Shabbat Candles, Wine and Challot
Question
What is the reason for lighting the candles, drinking the wine and breaking the bread on Sabbath? I have searched various sites and come up with different symbolism for each. A Christian looking at the Friday night “ritual” might see an analogy with communion and as such as symbolic of the coming of Jesus – ie the body (bread) and blood (wine). I have also read that in some forms on one candle is lite whilst my own mum would only ever light two candles of a Friday night.
So can someone give me a definitive picture as to what each part of the ritual means.
Thanks.
Answers
The earliest source for lighting Sabbath candles is in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 25b. “Rav said that lighting a lamp (ner – candle, light) for Shabbat is an obligation.” This is codified by Maimonides in the beginning of the fifth chapter of the Laws of Shabbat in his monumental work the Mishneh Torah. Rashi, the foremost commentator on the Torah, comments on the Talmudic statement that “in a place where there is no lamp there is no Shalom (peace, and peace of mind), since a person will trip over things and will be walking around in the dark.” Maimonides explains that the obligation of lighting a lamp for Shabbat is in order to honor the Shabbat, just like setting the table and cleaning the home.”
Although a person fulfills the obligation of lighting Shabbat candles by lighting just one, the accepted custom is that at least two are lit. Why two? The Sages explain that one represents the word Zachor, Remember, and the second represents the word “Shamor”, Guard. In the first set of the Ten Commandments that are found in the Torah Hashem used the word Zachor, in the second set He used the word Shamor (the differences in language are to do with the spiritual level of the Jewish People before and after the sin of the Golden Calf).
There is a beautiful custom that many people have which is to light an additional candle for every child in the family, because the flame of a candle is compared to a Soul, just as a flame is never still so too does the Soul continuously strive to “reach up” to God. However, one of the repercussions of the sin of Adam and Eve is that death was introduced in to the world. By lighting Shabbat candles we are, symbolically, reintroducing life in to the world because Shabbat brings with it an extra Soul, called the Neshama Yeteira, for those that keep it.
One of the more obvious symbols in the Jewish cycle is wine. So many of our rituals are accompanied by a cup brimming over with wine. When a couple marry they drink wine under the Chuppah. At the seven days of celebration after the wedding special blessings are recited that conclude with a blessing over wine. When a Brit Milah is performed a blessing is recited over a cup of wine. There is wine at a Pidyon haBen (redemption of a first-born son). We herald in Shabbat and Yom Tov with wine and, similarly, we take leave of them with a cup of wine as well.
On the face of it, that may not seem to be such a remarkable thing. After all, anyone familiar with Jewish rituals knows that wine nearly always plays a very prominent role. However, when one thinks about it, it really is rather surprising because of the potentially destructive nature of wine. Wine has played a very conspicuous role in the downfall of mankind almost since the beginning of history. According to Rabbi Meir (Tractate Brachot 40a) the Tree of Knowledge was a grapevine because “there is nothing that brings [more] wailing upon man as wine.” Rabbi Meir is teaching us that it was the latent destructiveness of wine that caused Adam and Chavah to sin and it is the same latent destructiveness that is the cause of so much sorrow up to and including today. The Talmud continues by describing how, on leaving the Ark after having been constrained within it for a whole year, Noach planted a vineyard and became drunk from its wine which directly led to his degradation (Bereshit 9:20-21). And in both the Torah and the Prophets the list of tragedies that occurred because of excessive wine drinking seems never-ending. Perhaps it would be more understandable if wine would have been entirely forbidden as it symbolizes the ease with which wine can overcome a person’s spiritual identity and turn them into a completely physical being (ibid. Rashi). At the very least it would seem more appropriate that wine be regarded with distrust and that it come with all kinds of warnings about the dangers of excessive drinking. And, yet, not only is that not the case but we seem to actually do the opposite and embrace it and rejoice with by making wine so central to so many of our ceremonies.
Paradoxically, through the extensive use of wine the Torah is imparting to us one of the most foundational lessons of all. Everything in the physical world can be elevated to become a spiritual experience. And wine – the symbol of debauchery and a person’s almost limitless ability to descend to the lowest levels – is no different. It is precisely because of its enormously potent power that we are commanded to utilize it for the benefit of the spiritual realms. To take the wine – the epitome of the physical controlling the spiritual and not the other way round as is supposed to be – and to elevate it and to turn it into something sanctified by making a blessing over it and drinking it at the holiest moments of our year.
In fact, so fundamental is the concept of elevating the mundane that Rabbi Yitzchak Friedman (1850–1917), the first Rebbe of Boyan Chassidut, known as the Pachad Yitzchak after his seminal work, would explain the words of the Sages (Tractate Pesachim 101a) in an ingenious and novel way. In discussing how a person is supposed to fulfill their obligation to recite Kiddush, the Sage Shmuel teaches: “Ein Kiddush Eilah Bemakom Seudah – Kiddush must only be recited in the place that [a person is going to eat their Shabbat] meal.” The Pachad Yitzchak would teach that Shmuel’s statement can be understood as “Ein Kiddush – the only way to attain holiness; Eilah Bemakom Seudah is through eating a meal.” If one eats with the correct intent, they will attain immense holiness!
The two loaves of bread – called Challot – represent the two portions of Mannah that were given to the Jewish People in the desert on Friday. The extra Mannah ensured that the needs of the Jewish People were taken care of before Shabbat. As with the candles, another reason for two Challot is taught to us by the Sages, one Challah represents the word Zachor, Remember, and the second represents the word “Shamor”, Guard. In the first set of the Ten Commandments that are found in the Torah, Hashem used the word Zachor, in the second set He used the word Shamor (the differences in language are to do with the spiritual level of the Jewish People before and after the sin of the Golden Calf).
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team