Candle Lighting Project Asks for Jewish Heroines

Know a Jewish heroine worthy of honor and $1,000 toward her courageous cause?

In celebration of the upcoming festival of Purim, FridayLight – a Chabad-Lubavitch run project that educates people about the importance of lighting Shabbat candles – is searching for modern-day “Queen Esthers” who are igniting the world with their special light.

The nominating period closes March 13, when voting will officially begin via FridayLight’s growing Facebook page. On March 20, voting will close to all nominees except the top three finalists, for whom the contest will continue one more week. The finalist with the most votes will be crowned “Jewish heroine of the year” on Purim day, March 27.

“We want Jewish women to get involved on a personal level,” says FridayLight social media director Mimi Hecht. “FridayLight is about Shabbat candle lighting specifically, but it’s also about celebrating Jewish women in general, since candle lighting is unique to us.”

FridayLight was launched in 2006 with the mission of encouraging women around the globe to take part in the simple but powerful act of candle lighting, which is done each Friday afternoon 18 minutes before sundown. The organization sends out free candle-lighting “starter-kits” to women around the world, replete with introductory brochures printed in English, Hebrew, French, Spanish and Russian.
FridayLight distributes free candle-lighting kits.

With more than 250,000 kits to date and another 100,000 regular subscribers, FridayLight is working hard to hit its original goal of reaching 1 million women.

“We’re working on ways to get our numbers crunching. We’ve gone a lot way but there’s a lot more work to do in spreading the light,” says Hecht.

Yonit Duchman of Miami, who co-founded the organization together with her husband and a strong partnership with Chabad of California, thinks the Jewish Heroine Contest highlights FridayLight’s vision of being from women, about women.

“Women can bring this energy into the world, and it’s something incredibly special,” she says. “That’s what this contest is about.”

Anyone can nominate herself or another female heroine by submitting pictures and profile information about the heroine and her noteworthy activities, as well as answering how the $1,000 prize will be used if she wins. The definition of heroine is open to all entrees’ interpretation, says Hecht.

For more information about FridayLight and for full contest details, click here.