Holiday Candle Lighting Blessings

Begin your holiday by lighting the candles with one of the following blessings over the candles, followed by the shehekheyanu prayer for special occasions and a tekhine, a private prayer to be recited after lighting the candles or a poem by Hannah Senesh (Senesz).

1. Traditional Blessing for Lighting Holiday Candles

 

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל [שַׁבָּת וְשֶׁל] יוֹם טוֹב

Barukh Atah Adonay Eloheynu Melekh ha-Olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hadlik neyr shel (Shabbat v’shel) Yom Tov.

You are Blessed, O God, Spirit of the World, who makes us holy with mitzvot and commands us to kindle the light of (Shabbat and of) the festival day.

 

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמָן הַזֶּה

Barukh Atah Adonay Eloheynu Melekh ha-Olam shehekheyanu v’kiy’manu v’higianu laz’man hazeh.

You are Blessed, Our God, Spirit of the World, who keeps us in life, who sustains us and who enables us to reach this season.

2. Candle Lighting Blessing Using Feminine God-Language

 

   בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ יָהּ אֱלֹהֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁתְנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיהָ וְצִוָּתְנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל [שַׁבָּת וְשֶׁל] יוֹם טוֹב

B’rukha At Ya Eloheynu Ruakh ha-Olam asher kid’shatnu b’mitzvoteha v’tzivatnu l’hadlik neyr shel (Shabbat v’shel) Yom Tov.

You are Blessed, O God, Spirit of the World, who makes us holy with mitzvot and commands us to kindle the light of (Shabbat and of) the festival day.

 

בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ יָהּ אֱלֹהֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁהֶחֱיָתְנוּ וְקִיְּמָתְנוּ וְהִגִּיעָתְנוּ לַזְּמָן הַזֶּה

B’rukha At Ya Eloheinu Ruakh ha-Olam shehekheyatnu v’kiy’matnu v’higiatnu laz’man hazeh.

You are Blessed, Our God, Spirit of the World, who keeps us in life, who sustains us and who enables us to reach this season.

3. Tekhine: Private Woman’s Prayer for Candle Lighting

Tekhines are women’s Yiddish prayers written in the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries, in Eastern and Central Europe. Tekhines (from the Hebrew word le-hit’hanen, to supplicate) were used by women for prayer at home or in the synagogue. They often refer to specific women’s commandments like candle lighting and contain references to the Matriarchs and other biblical women. (For more on tekhines see Chava Weissler, Voices of the Matriarchs, Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.)

May it be Your will, my God and God of my ancestors, to be gracious to me and to all my family and to give us, and all Israel, a good and long life. Remember us with goodness and blessing, and grant us salvation and mercy. Grant us abundant blessing, and fortify the places we call home. May Your Presence dwell among us as we gather here tonight. May we be blessed with wise and learned disciples and children, lovers of God who stand in awe of You, people who speak truth and spread holiness. May those we nurture light the world with Torah and good deeds. Hear the prayers I utter now in the name of our mothers Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah. May Your light, reflected in these candles, surround us always. And let us say, Amen.

(Adapted by Nurit Shein and Sue Levi Elwell from a traditional Sephardic tekhine found in Jonathon Cohen, ed. The Sephardi Haggadah, Jerusalem: Feldheim Publishers, 1988.)

4. Blessed is the Match, by Hannah Senesh

Blessed is the match that is consumed in kindling the flame.
Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.
Blessed is the heart strong enough to stop beating in dignity.
Blessed is the match that is consumed in kindling the flame.

 

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