Why do we light two candles on Shabbat?
(ח) זָכ֛וֹר֩ אֶת־י֥֨וֹם הַשַּׁבָּ֖֜ת לְקַדְּשֽׁ֗וֹ (ט) שֵׁ֤֣שֶׁת יָמִ֣ים֙ תַּֽעֲבֹ֔ד֮ וְעָשִׂ֖֣יתָ כָּל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ֒ (י) וְי֙וֹם֙ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔֜י שַׁבָּ֖֣ת ׀ לַיהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֗יךָ לֹֽ֣א־תַעֲשֶׂ֣֨ה כָל־מְלָאכָ֡֜ה אַתָּ֣ה ׀ וּבִנְךָֽ֣־וּ֠בִתֶּ֗ךָ עַבְדְּךָ֤֨ וַאֲמָֽתְךָ֜֙ וּבְהֶמְתֶּ֔֗ךָ וְגֵרְךָ֖֙ אֲשֶׁ֥֣ר בִּשְׁעָרֶֽ֔יךָ (יא) כִּ֣י שֵֽׁשֶׁת־יָמִים֩ עָשָׂ֨ה יְהוָ֜ה אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם וְאֶת־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֶת־הַיָּם֙ וְאֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּ֔ם וַיָּ֖נַח בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֑י עַל־כֵּ֗ן בֵּרַ֧ךְ יְהוָ֛ה אֶת־י֥וֹם הַשַּׁבָּ֖ת וַֽיְקַדְּשֵֽׁהוּ׃ (ס)
6th Century BCE
(8) Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. (9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. (11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
(יב) שָׁמ֣֛וֹר אֶת־י֥וֹם֩ הַשַׁבָּ֖֨ת לְקַדְּשׁ֑֜וֹ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוְּךָ֖֣ ׀ יְהוָ֥֣ה אֱלֹהֶֽ֗יךָ
5th Century BCE
(12) Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.
יהא זהיר לעשות נר יפה ויש מכוונים לעשות שתי פתילות אחד כנגד זכור ואחד כנגד שמור:
1563 CE
One should take care to make a beautiful candle/lamp and there are those who place two wicks in this lamp, with the intent that one light recall [the command] “Remember”and the other, [the command] “Observe".
Why are we allowed to light ANYTHING on Shabbat?!
6th Century BCE
(1) Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community and said to them: These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do: (2) On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. (3) You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the sabbath day.
400-600 CE
We learned in the mishna that Rabbi Yishmael says that kindling a lamp on Shabbat with tar is prohibited. The Gemara asks: What is the reason for this? Rava said: Because its odor is bad the Sages issued a decree prohibiting the use of tar, lest one forsake the light and leave. Abaye said to him: And let him leave. What obligation is there to sit next to the light? Rava said to him: Because I say that kindling Shabbat lights is an obligation, and one is required to eat specifically by that light in deference to Shabbat. As Rav Naḥman bar Rav Zavda said, and others say that it was Rav Naḥman bar Rava who said that Rav said: Kindling the Shabbat lamps is an obligation, whereas washing one’s hands and feet with hot water in the evening prior to Shabbat is merely optional. And I say: Washing is not merely optional; it is a mitzva even though it is not an obligation.
רש׳׳י שם
חובה- כבוד שבת הוא שאין סעודה
חשובה אלא במקום אור כעין יממא
Rashi on "It is an obligation"
11th Century CE
[Shabbat candles are obligatory since it is] Kavod (to honor) Shabbat, since a meal is not significant unless there is light as if it daytime
686 BCE
If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, From pursuing your affairs on My holy day; If you call the sabbath “delight,” The LORD’s holy day “honored”; And if you honor it and go not your ways Nor look to your affairs, nor strike bargains—
וְקָרָאתָ לַשַּׁבָּת עֹנֶג (ישעיה נח, יג), זוֹ הַדְלָקַת הַנֵּר בַּשַּׁבָּת. וְאִם תֹּאמַר לֵישֵׁב בַּחֹשֶׁךְ, אֵין זֶה עֹנֶג, שֶׁאֵין יוֹרְדֵי גֵיהִנָּם נִדּוֹנִין אֶלָּא בַחֹשֶׁךְ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: אֶרֶץ עֵפָתָה כְּמוֹ אֹפֶל (איוב י, כב).
8th or 9th Century CE
And call the Sabbath a delight (Isa. 58:13). If one chooses to sit in darkness, the Sabbath would not then be a delight, since darkness is imposed upon those condemned to Gehenna, as it says: A land of thick darkness, as darkness itself (Job 10:22).
400-600 CE
I called you first, as it is stated: “Israel is the Lord’s hallowed portion, His first fruits of the increase” (Jeremiah 2:3) and I warned you about matters of the first: “Of the first of your dough you shall set apart ḥalla for a gift” (Numbers 15:20). The soul that I have placed in you is called ner: “The spirit of man is the lamp [ner] of the Lord” (Proverbs 20:27), and I warned you about matters of the Shabbat lamp. If you fulfill these mitzvot, fine, and if not, then I will take your soul.
אמר רבא פשיטא לי נר ביתו ונר חנוכה נר ביתו עדיף משום שלום ביתו
400-600 CE
Rava said: It is obvious to me that there is a fixed list of priorities. When a person is poor and must choose between purchasing oil to light a Shabbat lamp for his home or purchasing oil to light a Hanukkah lamp, the Shabbat lamp for his home takes precedence. That is due to peace in his home; without the light of that lamp, his family would be sitting and eating their meal in the dark.
Who lights the candles?
200 CE
For three sins women die in childbirth: because they are not observant of [the laws of] niddah, hallah, and the kindling of the [Shabbat] lights.
1180 CE
The Sabbath lights should be lit during daytime, before sunset. This duty is assigned to women rather than men, because women are usually at home doing housework. Nevertheless, the man should caution them, asking them about it, and telling them and the other members of his household, every Friday before it gets dark: "Light the lights!" If it is doubtful whether darkness has already fallen or not, whether the Sabbath has or has not begun, the lights may not be lit.
1563 CE
Women are more responsible, since they are present in the home and engaged in the household needs. If one lacks means to purchase a Shabbat lamp and kiddush for the day, the Shabbat lamp takes precedence. Similarly, if one lacks means to purchase a Shabbat lamp and a Hanukkah lamp, the Shabbat lamp takes precedence because of peace in the home, since there is no peace without a lamp. (And if one lacks means to purchase wine for kiddush and a Hanukkah lamp, see later Siman 678).
Heschel, The Sabbath, p. 66
20th Century CE
"When all work is brought to a standstill, the candles are lit. Just as creation began with the word, 'Let there be light!' so does the celebration of creation begin with the kindling of lights. It is the woman who ushers in the joy and sets up the most exquisite symbol, light, to dominate the atmosphere of the home."
The Orthodox Jewish Woman and Ritual: Options and Opportunities, Shabbat
2011, Referencing the Zohar 13th Century but attributed to 2nd century
According to the Zohar, as a woman lights Shabbat candles on earth, candles are kindled in the divine realm, symbolizing the union and harmony of the sefirot (divine emanations) that occurs on Shabbat.
May a non-Jew light the candles?
הגה: יש מי שאומר שמברכים קודם ההדלקה ויש מי שאומר שמברך אחר ההדלקה וכדי שיהא עובר לעשייתו לא יהנה ממנה עד לאחר הברכה. ומשימין היד לפני הנר אחר ההדלקה ומברכין , ואחר כך מסלקין היד וזה מקרי עובר לעשיה וכן המנהג.
1563 CE
Rama: Some say to make the Bracha before lighting. Some say to make it after lighting, and in order to accomplish "oveir le'asiyatan" (before the action), do not get pleasure from the candles until after the Bracha. [You can do this by] putting your hand over the candle after you light it, and then you make the Bracha, and then you take away your hand.
שו׳׳ת הר צבי א:קמג
ולדעתי כן הוא שיטת המג"א (בסימן רסג ס"ק יא) שמביא בשם מהר"ם באם אחרה להדליק הנרות עד אחר שקעה"ח תאמר לנכרי להדליק והיא תברך, ובחידושי רע"א שםהקשה, הא אין שליחות לעכו"ם וא"כ היא אינה מדלקת והאיך תברך ע"ז. ולפי האמור י"ל דהדלקת נר של שבת אין מצותה עצם ההדלקה שיהא עכוב בדבר שיהא מדליקבידים דוקא, אלא עיקר המצוה היא ההשתדלות שיהא אור מאיר בבית וזה הוא קיום מצותה, וא"כ שפיר מברכת על הדלקת הגוי
Responsa of Har Tzvi 1:143
Died 1960 CE, Jerusalem
It is my opinion, and it is the opinion of the Magen Avraham, who brings it in the name of the Maharam, that if she was delayed in lighting the lamps until after the sun had set, that she should say to a non-Jew to light and she should bless. In the Chiddushei Rabbi Akiva Eger, they raised a difficulty, that a non-Jew cannot do a mitzvah for a Jew, so the non-Jew can't light for her, so how could she then bless? Because of what is said, we can say, that regarding the lighting of a Shabbat lamp, that the essence of the mitzvah is not the lighting, that could be nullified by someone else's hands. Rather the essence of the mitzvah is the presence of the light that lights up the home, and that is the fulfillment of the mitzvah, and if that is so, then it is preferable to bless over the lighting done by a non-Jew.
CCAR RESPONSA
Contemporary American Reform Responsa
165. May a Non-Jew Light the Shabbat Eve Candles
1984 CE
QUESTION: May a non-Jew married to a Jew light the shabbat eve candles? The question has arisen at the time when a son of such a couple is about to be Bar Mitzvah. Normally the mother of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah participates in the shabbat eve ceremony by lighting the candles. May she do so under the circumstances? (Rabbi E. Palnick, Little Rock, AR)
ANSWER: Tradition has little to say on this specifically as the custom of lighting the candles in the synagogue is an innovation of the Reform movement. It may have been intended as a revival of an ancient custom of lighting the shabbat candles following the afternoon service in the synagogue (Sidur Rav Amram, ed., Jerusalem, 1979, p. 61, also Isaac Lamperonti, Pahad Yitzhaq, Hadlakhah). It came as a recent addition to the late Friday evening service created by Isaac Mayer Wise. His first congregation was not enthusiastic but did permit him to establish such a service in 1869 (W. G. Plaut, “The Sabbath in the-Reform Movement,” C.C.A.R. Yearbook, Vol. 75, p. 177). This service did not contain the ritual of lighting the candles in the synagogue, nor did the early editions of the Union Prayer Book. It was introduced in the newly revised edition of 1940 and has become an accepted part of our liturgy.
The lighting of shabbat candles at the erev shabbat service represents a synagogue version of the mitzvah of lighting shabbat candles at home (M. Shab II, 6). This was one of the three mitzvot specifically commanded to women (Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 263.3), although both men and women may light the candles.
The non-Jewish spouse’s participation in the Friday evening ritual at home has evolved naturally. Frequently she does light the shabbat candles and through this indicates a wish to establish some ties with Judaism at home. Technically, of course, it is inappropriate for a Christian to recite the traditional benediction as it contains the words asher kiddshanu – “who sanctified us with His commandments,” which indicates an obligation imposed on Jews. We have, however, taken this act as a positive indication that the home is to be Jewish. We cannot apply the same reasoning to the non-Jewish mother’s participation in the Friday evening service by reciting the traditional words on the occasion of her child’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah. This is a public service and non-Jews may not lead in essential segments of the synagogue service or sections which utilize such phrases as “who has sanctified us” (“Participation of Non-Jews in a Jewish Public Service,” W. Jacob, American Reform Responsa, #6). The non-Jewish mother may light the candles and recite a modified prayer while someone else, perhaps another family member, should recite the traditional blessing.
A final word from Rashi:
רש"י על שבת כ״ה ב: הדלקת נר בשבת - שלא היה לו ממה להדליק ובמקום שאין נר אין שלום שהולך ונכשל והולך באפילה:
Rashi on Shabbat 25b Lighting the Sabbath Candle
Died 1105 CE
That he didn't have anything with which to light. And in a place where there is no candle, there is no "Shalom", that one walks and stumbles and walks in darkness.