Word Prompt – CANDLES – Chani Miller

Shortly after my daughter got married, both she and my mother came for the weekend. As we lit candles, I realized that this was the first time that three generations were simultaneously ushering in Shabbos. I thought that afterwards I would feel something transcendent, that something in the cosmos would shift to mark the occasion, but there was no lightning, no thunder, no Bas Kol; any epiphany I had expected to receive was stubbornly unforthcoming.

When I received this “word prompt” last week I instantly thought about the three of us lighting candles together; yet I had nothing to say other than the fact that this special moment had occurred. As the days went on and the deadline for “candles” loomed, I turned to the wisdom of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, zt”l, whose fifth yahrzeit was on the day that this essay was due.

Rabbi Sacks teaches us that we light three types of candles; Shabbos, havdalah, and Chanukah. The Shabbos candles represent the inner light and sanctity of the Jewish home; the Chanukah candles represent the light we bring out into the world, and the havdalah candle with its intertwining wicks is the fusion between our inner and our outer lights.

There was never going to be a flamboyant epiphany. The very nature of the Shabbos candles commands us to channel their light inwards, to create a home that is a private sanctuary filled with divine radiance and quiet, memorable moments, moments that are special simply because the moments are special.