Candle Lighting I (הדלקת נרות (א

(2) Six days shall you perform labor and on the seventh day it will be sacred for you, a Shabbat Shabbaton for God; whoever performs labor on it will be put to death. (3) You shall not kindle fire in all of your dwellings on the Shabbat day.

"You shall not light a fire in all of your dwellings on the day of Sabbath." On the day of Sabbath, you may not do so, but you may do so from the eve of Sabbath for Sabbath.

Rabbi Yishmael says: We do not light with tar because of the honor of Shabbat

One needs to prepare his house while it is still day because of kevod ha-Shabbat, and there should be a lit candle and a table set for eating and a bed made, for all these are for kevod Shabbat.

“Rabbi Yishmael says” etc. What is the reason? Rava said: Because its odor is bad, it is a decree lest he leave it and go out [from where it was lit]. Abbaye said to him: So let him go out. He [Rava] said to him [Abbaye]: For I say, lighting the candle of Shabbat is an obligation.

…For it is an obligation to dine in proximity to the candle, because of oneg [Shabbbat].

Whence do we derive [the requirement of] the Shabbat candle? As it is said, “And you will call Shabbat a pleasure.” (Yeshaya 58:13).

[If one lacks sufficient funds for both, which takes precedence,] the [Shabbat] candle of his home or [wine for] Kiddush? The candle of his home takes precedence because of shalom bayit.​​​​​​​

Kindling a candle of Shabbat…And in a place where there is no candle, there is no peace, and one walks and stumbles, and walks in the dark.

[In] a place in which they are accustomed to light the candle on the eve of Yom Kippur, they light it. [In] a place in which they are accustomed not to light, they don’t light [it].​​​​​​​

There is one who says that one recites a beracha over lighting the Yom Kippur candle. Rema: And thus is the custom in these provinces.​​​​​​​

On Yom Tov also, one must recite the beracha “to light the candle of Yom Tov.”​​​​​​​

Just as on Shabbat we are commanded in lighting candles, so too on Yom Tov, for it is clear that Yom Tov is a time of rejoicing and there is no rejoicing without light. Therefore she [a woman] needs to recite the beracha “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the world, Who sanctified us with His mitzvot and commanded us to light the candle of Yom Tov.” Mordechai and Or Zarua and Hagahot Maymoniyot brought this from the Yerushalmi, but I did not find this in the Yerushalmi that is before us. And our women also recite the beracha of she-hechiyyanu at the time of candle-lighting on Yom Tov.

One should be careful to make a hardy candle, and there are those who deliberately make two wicks, one corresponding to “remember [the Shabbat]” and one corresponding to “keep [the Shabbat].” Rema: and they can add and light three or four candles, and thus is the practice. The woman who forgot to light one time, lights three candles for all her days (Maharil), for one can add to something intended [to symbolize] another matter, as long as one does not decrease [the number].

One time – And if she forgot a few times, she needs to add each time, for the matter is in order to make a reminder so that she be careful from now on with the honor of Shabbat. For this reason it seems to me that if she was subject to circumstances beyond her control and thus didn’t light, as if she was in prison or the like, she need not add.

Lighting a candle on Shabbat isn’t optional, [meaning] if he wants he lights, and if he wants he doesn’t light. And it’s not a mitzva, [meaning] that he is not obligated to chase after it until he does it, like making an eiruv or washing hands to eat. Rather it is an obligation, and both men and women are obligated that there be in their homes a lit candle on Shabbat.

Women are cautioned – Even if the husband wants to light [the Shabbat candle] himself, the wife takes precedence (Bach) and when she has given birth, on the first Shabbat the husband lights and recites the beracha.

His question: How women should conduct themselves with Shabbat candle-lighting if they immerse on Friday night. Behold, the fundamental resolution is that they [the women] light first and stipulate that they are not accepting Shabbat, and so I always instruct…It is also correct for the husband to light and recite the beracha …for with any mitzva performed through an agent, it is fitting that the agent recite the beracha.

It is good that the man set up the candles.

Two or three heads of household eat in one place, there are those who say that each one recites a beracha over his lamp, and there are those who hesitate in the matter. And it is correct to be careful regarding a doubt with berachot and for only one to recite a beracha. Rema: But we don’t practice thus.

…Two or three heads of household eat in one place, each one recites a beracha on his own lamp, even though there is already a great amount of light. And in my humble opinion it seems to me to [make this view] sit well, that anything that adds light has more shalom bayit and extra rejoicing by enjoying the light in each and every corner…

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: All oils are good for the candle, and olive oil is most choice.​​​​​​​

But for the Shabbat candle it is clear that olive oil is most choice, because it is drawn more into the wick than all of them [other oils].

It is a fitting custom to first light all the candles in the home and afterwards the candles on the table, for that candle [on the table] is the one that comes for kevod Shabbat.

Young men who travel to study away from their homes must light a Shabbat candle in their rooms and recite a beracha over it.