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About Lighting Times


In most locales, Shabbat candle-lighting time is eighteen minutes before sunset.

Shabbat begins at sunset and it is forbidden to light candles on Shabbat. In order to provide a margin for error, the accepted custom is to light the candles and usher in Shabbat eighteen minutes earlier.

If one missed candle-lighting time, it is still permissible to light the Shabbat candles until sunset. After sunset it is forbidden.

It is permitted to light candles and usher in the Shabbat earlier, if one so wishes. This is common practice in places where nightfall in the summer months is quite late. The earliest one may do so is plag hamincha, 1ΒΌ halachic hours before sunset. Click here for the time of plag haminchah in your location.

Click here for holiday candle lighting time information.
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Reader Comments
Latest Comments:
Posted: Jan 15, 2010
end of Shabbat.
There are two times for ending the Shabbat, night time and Rabinu Tam, which is 72 minutes after the first time. In NonJewish circles it is refered to as dark and pitchdark. Where you to ask an astromoner the time of pitchdark, he would provide you with a time that more or less corresponds to Rabainu Tam, with a difference of a minutes either way.
Posted By Leslie J0seph, jerusalem, israel
via chabadominican.com

Posted: Dec 20, 2009
End of Shabbat
My custom is to end Shabbat on Saturday night 72 minutes after the time at which it began on Sunday.
Now, I ask the following question only because I was in Yerushalyim last Shabbat and was confused by the altered times:
Should I begin counting the additional 72 minutes from candle lIghting time or from shkiah?
Posted By Anonymous, Chicago

Posted: Dec 11, 2009
End of Shabbat
Anonymous in Loma Linda:
Give G-d His whole due: Shabbat is 25 hours, and not 24---it does not end at sunset. See Chani's explanation.
Posted By Yehudit

Posted: Nov 11, 2009
End of Sabbath
Sabbath ends at sunset on Saturday evening just as it begins at sunset on Friday. Don't try to short change God. He wants one whole day - a full 24 hour period - 1 day in 7, and nothing less.
Posted By Anonymous, Loma Linda, CA/USA

Posted: Aug 10, 2009
Number of Candles
An unmarried woman lights one candle, a married woman lights two, and according to her tradition, either one new candle per child born or one for all of her children.
Posted By Chani Benjaminson, chabad.org

Posted: Aug 9, 2009
End of Shabbat
According to the majority of Rabbinic opinions, Shabbat ends at nightfall on Saturday evening. Nightfall is the point at which it grows dark enough for three medium-sized stars to become visible.
For more information on the Halachic times, please see: About Zmanim.
To find exact times in your location, please see our Shabbat and Holiday calculator.
Posted By Chani Benjaminson, chabad.org

Posted: Aug 8, 2009
what is the maximum number of candles one can light? would one be OK?
Posted By Anonymous, 2030, AUSTRALIA

Posted: Aug 7, 2009
When does Shabbat end?
I understand how the beginning of shabbos is determined, but not how the end time is determined. I understand that it is roughly 25 hours after it begins, but not the exact time. If someone could explain this I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks!
Posted By Robin, Springfield, NJ

Posted: Aug 3, 2009
Evening services
No need to apologize, Robert! If you don't ask you don't learn...Different communities have different customs. Some start praying pretty much at the same time as candle lighting (or a few minutes afterwards), while others start about 45 minutes to an hour after. Your best bet is to contact the community you're visiting directly. To find a Chabad center near you, click here.
Posted By Chani Benjaminson, chabad.org

Posted: July 31, 2009
Sorry if this sounds ignorant, but if I belong to a Orthodox synagogue, how would I know, based on the candle lighting times, when the evening services start?
Posted By Robert, Cherry Hill, NJ/USA



 


Candle Lighting Times
Shabbat Candles Instructions
Holiday Candle Lighting Procedure
Candle Lighting Times on Your Website
About Lighting Times
About Holiday Lighting Times

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