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Lighting the Candles


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The ladies light the candles. It is the teaching of the Talmud that the ladies light the candle.  Why do they light the candles?  Because according to the Rabbis and the Sages it is the ladies who bring the light of God into the home and the world.  The home is the center of God’s spiritual universe, not the synagogue, not the church, but the home.
According to Jewish tradition, God went to the world and said, “Do you want my Torah?” Nations turned Him down because of the requirements to receive it.  So when God finally came to Israel and said will you take my Torah, it was the women who said yes.  The Rabbis teach in the Talmud that if it wasn’t for the women praying to God in Egypt, Israel would still be in slavery. So God chose the women to light the candles.

They light not just one candle, but two.  Why the two candles?   The two candles represent peace and blessing.  You can’t have peace if we’re not blessed. You can’t have blessing without peace. The Rabbis teach that there are two candles so that we will remember the Sabbath and also keep it. It’s not enough to just remember, we also have to keep it.

So women are God’s centerpiece for bringing light, peace, joy and harmony into their home and then out into the world. The Rabbis teach that ladies are the queen of Shabbat.  They are the queen of God’s altar.  Ladies are the queen of the home.  You are the queen of your table, and then you pray silently, between you and God.  God is listening to the women – the mothers of the world.   When the ladies finish the prayer and open their eyes, the Shabbat starts.

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