Festivals
Candle Lighting
KINDLING LIGHTS Israel has a tradition from the days of Moses to kindle lights for the Sabbath (Pesikta Zutresa). Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said that God blessed the Sabbath by providing additional manna on Friday and He sanctified it with lights (Mechilta Yisro). Rav Huna said that one who is…
General Laws of Lighting Shabbos Candles
One lights candles before Shabbos begins. The candlelight creates an atmosphere of peace and tranquility in the home. It is also one of the ways in which we honor Shabbos, and demonstrate its importance. The primary mitzvah is to light candles in the room where the Shabbos meal will be…
The Shalom Aleichem Hymn
The Talmud teaches that two Malachei HaShareis, ministering angels – one good and one evil – escort a person home from the synagogue on the eve of the Sabbath. If a Jew arrives home and finds a kindled lamp, a set table, and a made bed, the good angel says,…
The Chafetz Chaim and the Wagoners
The Shalom Aleichem hymn is sung upon returning home from the Synagogue on Friday night and finding one’s home set in a festive Shabbos atmosphere, A Good Angel declares, ‘May it be [God’s] will that it also be so next Sabbath.’ But if the home is not enveloped in the…
SERENITY OF Shabbos*
Man in his unrelenting toil looks forward to the Shabbos day. Throughout the Six Days of Work he cannot stop his laborious efforts to provide for himself and his family. As the sun sets Friday afternoon in anticipation of the Shabbos Queen, he finally allows himself to relax, to prepare…