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Shabbat Candle Lighting Videos
Watch videos on Shabbat and holiday candle lighting
The Shabbos candle lighting campaign has yielded far-reaching results. One example from the
many reports we received: A little girl, five or six years old, attended a non-religious school in
Israel. One day, an older girl spoke to her class about the Mitzvah of Shabbos candles. She
taught them the blessings, and gave them candles and candlesticks to take home.
One of the great mitzvah campaigns the Rebbe initiated was that all Jewish women, and even young girls, light the Shabbat candles, which usher in the holiness of the day. Though this mitzvah is merely rabbinic in origin, yet in this class we uncover the incredible light and energy contained within even one small candle.
17 Sivan, 5740 • June 1, 1980
There are three fundamental mitzvot entrusted to every Jewish woman.
Separating challah “from the first of your dough” shows that before benefiting from anything in this world, we “set aside an offering for G‑d.” By knowing that the beginning of everything is for G‑d, the entire home becomes a dwelling place for Him.
Yehudah Clapman recalls arranging a private audience with the Rebbe for his cousins. After asking the girls in the family to light their own Shabbos candle, the Rebbe offered them a special gift to help them get started. When they tried to thank the Rebbe as they left, it was the Rebbe who thanked them instead.
Watch girls from around the world demonstrating how the lighting of Shabbat candles continues from one location to the next, beginning in New Zealand and ending in Alaska, to usher in the Shabbat. (This clip is from the Pre-Shabbat Party program by Friendship Circle—it’s not a filming of the real Shabbat candle lighting)
In the Mishnah, R' Yehudah says that if a metzorah (one who suffers from Biblical leprosy) enters someone's home uninvited, the home becomes defiled within the amount of time it takes to light the Shabbat candles. What is the deeper, spiritual meaning of this law and how does it help us understand the tremendous power of the Shabbat candles? (Based in Likkutei Sichos, vol. 17, pp. 141)
Intermediate Talmud: Tractate Shabbat, Lesson 32
Returning to the Mishnah, to elucidate the next prohibited kindling substance, “Itran”; seeking the rhyme and reason for this ban on burning. The ensuing narrative goes beyond the technical answer; shedding profound light on the deeper meaning and purpose of the sacred kindling of Shabbat candles. Far more than functional, these lights create the atmosphere of sacred serenity providing not only substance but also style. Sourcing these ideas meanders into bathing and dressing for Shabbat as well as. (Tractate Shabbat 25B)
Special mitzvahs of Jewish women and what they mean to us
The unique role of the Jewish woman is described in terms of three archetypical mitzvahs—Shabbat candles, family purity and kosher. How do traditional ideas of Jewish femininity compare to modern feminist ideas about the role of women in society?
Let’s keep the Shabbat flame burning
In hidden cellars behind the Iron Curtain, at the front lines of an IDF operation, and in the dark shadow of the Holocaust, Jewish women and girls embraced Shabbat with the vibrant flames they kindled. Travel back in time and experience Shabbat candle-lighting from the days of our matriarch Sarah and on. Let’s keep the flame burning on and on . . .
