This woodblock print, part of a collection from The Book of Traditions, was designed in Berlin in 1723 but published in Amsterdam. The drawing shows a woman wearing a long dress and a head covering, standing next to a lamp that is handing from the ceiling. She seems to be lighting and saying the blessings over the Shabbat candles which are in a Shabbat lamp called a Judenstern (German for a Jewish star), common at this time in central Europe. The Shabbat lamp hangs from the ceiling and has six branches, echoing a six-pointed star. The table is set for the traditional Friday night Shabbat meal. Forks are conspicuously missing from the table probably because they were not common on European tables until the mid-eighteenth century.
Underneath the drawing, the words in German read “A woman lighting the candles” and also refer to the source: The Book of Traditions of the Jews of Berlin. Lighting the Shabbat candles is a very central tradition of Jewish life, which possibly explains why the author of the book chose to include this picture in a book depicting German-Jewish traditions.
According to Jewish tradition, women light candles on Friday evening before sunset to bring in the Shabbat. While there are several traditions about the number of candles, the most common tradition is to light two. The lighting of the candles serves two purposes: to honour the Shabbat and to light up the home and create a homely atmosphere. Today candles are normally lit in candlesticks. These Shabbat lights, however, were lit in a Judenstern (Jewish star), which was a traditional hanging Shabbat lamp among Jews in Germany and central Europe. Unlike the candles used today, this lamp includes small receptacles for oil and a wick. Under the candelabra is a bowl that drains the oil. In this picture, six lights have been lit; today it is common to light two candles. The lights in this picture are also different from the candles that are commonly used today. In this picture, it seems as if the lights were lit with a wick that was dipped into oil kept in the receptacles at the end of the Judenstern branches. While it is traditional, as in this picture, for women to lighting the Shabbat candles, there are some households today where men also light the candles.
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Connection to Parashat Vayakhel
Before Parashat Vayakhel continues the description of the construction of the mishkan (tabernacle) and all the items that were required within it, there is a short reminder of the laws of Shabbat. There is a specific prohibition on the creation of fire. This law is the major reason given for lighting Shabbat candles before the start of Shabbat in order to provide light in the house.
