Shabbat candles

The blessing is never described by Talmudic sources, but was introduced by Geonim to emphasize rejection of the early Karaitic belief that lights could not be lit before the Sabbath.[7] It is attested in a fragment in the St. Petersburg national library (Antonin B, 122, 2); it also appears in a plethora of Gaonic material, including the Seder of Amram Gaon, the responsa of Natronai Gaon, the responsa of Sherira Gaon, and others. Every source quotes it with identical language, exactly correspondent to the modern liturgy.

The lighting is preferably done by a woman. Talmudic sources (y. Shabbat 2:6, Gen. Rabb. 17:8, TanhBub Noah 1:1) explain that "the First Man was the world's lamp, but Eve extinguished him. Therefore they gave the commandment of the lamp to the woman". Solomon b. Isaac (b. Shabbat 32a s.v. hareni) adds an additional rationale, "and moreover, she is responsible for household needs." Moses b. Maimon, who rejects Talmudic rationales based on superstition, writes only: "And women are more obligated in this matter than men, because they are found at home[lower-alpha 3] and involved in housework."[11]

Today, most Jews light at least two candles. Authorities up to and including Joseph Karo, who wrote that "there are those who employ two wicks, one corresponding to "Remember" and one corresponding to "Keep" (perhaps two wicks in one lamp, reflecting the Talmudic teaching "'Remember' and 'Keep' in a single statement"),[12] advised a maximum of two lamps, with other lamps necessary for other purposes kept carefully at a distance to preserve the tableau.[13] However, Moses Isserles added "and it's possible to add and light three or four lamps, and such is our custom",[14] and Yisrael Meir Kagan added, "and there are those who light seven candles corresponding to the seven days of the week (Lurianics),[15] or ten corresponding to the Ten Commandments".[16] Starting with Yaakov Levi Moelin, rabbinic authorities have required women who forgot to light one week to add an additional lamp to her regular number for the rest of her life.[17]

A recent custom reinterprets the two candles as husband and wife[lower-alpha 4] and adds a new candle for every child born; apparently the first to hear of it was Israel Hayyim Friedman, though his essay was not published until 1965,[18] followed by Jacob Zallel Lauterbach, who mentions it in an undated essay published posthumously in 1951.[7] Menachem Mendel Schneerson mentioned it in a 1975 letter.[19] Mordechai Leifer supposedly said, "The women light two candles before children but after their first child they light five, corresponding to the Five Books Of Moses . . . and so it is forever, irrespective of how many children" but this teaching was not published until 1988.[20] Menashe Klein offers two interpretations: either it is based on Moelin's rule and women who miss a week because they were giving birth are not exempted (though all other authorities assume they are exempted) or it is based on comparison with Hanukkah candles, which some medieval authorities recommended be lit one per member of the household.[21]

In the Ashkenazic rite, after the candles are lit, a blessing is said (whereas, in the Sephardic rite, the blessing is said before the lighting). In order to avoid benefiting from the light of the candles before uttering the blessing, Ashkenazic authorities recommend that the lighter cover her eyes for the intervening period.[22] Today, many Jewish women make an exaggerated motion, waving their hands in the air, when covering their eyes; there is no specific source for this in traditional texts.

The Sefer haAsuppot, attributed to the 13th-century scholar Elijah b. Isaac of Carcassonne, records that "I heard that [Rashi's granddaughter] Rabbanit Hannah, the sister of Rabbi Jacob, would warn the women not to begin the blessing until the second candle was lit, lest the women accept the Sabbath and then continue lighting candles."[23][24]