Phoenix, AZ — Lighting Shabbat candles can lead to inner peace - and perhaps even global peace.
That's the idea behind Chabad Lubavitch's new project, FridayLight, a Shabbat candle-lighting campaign.
Light of Peace
Phoenix, AZ — Lighting Shabbat candles can lead to inner peace – and perhaps even global peace.
That’s the idea behind Chabad Lubavitch’s new project, FridayLight, a Shabbat candle-lighting campaign.
The project is a contemporary take on a campaign initiated in 1974 by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who encouraged Jewish women to unite by lighting Shabbat candles, according to Rabbi Ari Baitelman, FridayLight director. FridayLight, sponsored by an anonymous philanthropist from Florida and based at Chabad of California in Los Angeles, launched in June 2006.
A key aspect of the program is FridayLight.org, a Web site that offers information about the tradition of lighting Shabbat candles. Visitors to the site can request a free starter kit: a decorated tin which includes tea-light candles; matches; a poster with the blessing and a list of “10 Things You Don’t Have to Do on FridayLight”; and a keepsake necklace.
So far, about 30,000 starter kits have been distributed in 41 states, Baitelman says, about 1,000 ordered by individuals and the rest in bulk by various organizations.
The site also offers a forum where individuals can share their inspirational experiences about lighting Shabbat candles and sign up for e-mail or text message reminders of the candle-lighting time in their region.
In addition to collecting inspirational stories on the Web site, stories related to candle lighting – from childhood memories to stories behind a set of candlesticks – are also being compiled for an anthology, “The Book of Lights.” For details on submitting an essay, e-mail Marina Muhlfriedel at Marina@FridayLight.org.
Chana Tiechtel, associate director of the Chabad Jewish Student Center at Arizona State University, is the international campus coordinator for FridayLight and introduced the program to ASU students this semester.
Tiechtel says she has received a very positive response. “Students are looking for a moment for inner peace for themselves and they also want to do something for global peace as a whole,” she says. “FridayLight offers just that.” The program is currently on more than 80 college campuses, she says.
In spring 2007, a customized 40-foot bus, FridayLight Coach, will travel across the country with an interactive exhibit about the history and meaning of Shabbat candles, Baitelman says. The bus will visit synagogues, Chabad centers, college campuses, federations and Jewish community centers.
The Web site also encourages hosting a FridayLight party, where friends and family gather to light candles together. “That’s what candle lighting is all about,” says Baitelman. “Sharing with your family and experiencing the beauty of Shabbat.”
Rosey
Yasshar Koach!This is a beautiful
idea. Keep up the great work!!
Crown Heights reader
a girl
JUST BEAUTIFUL!!! KEEP UP LIGHTING THE WORLD AND MAKINGF IT A WARM AND GLOWING PLACE!!!
cousins from NY
great job keep up the good work boruch duchman the founder and owner of friday light and to the whole duchman family of bal harbor florida
boruch, yonit, dovid , mishy,mendy,sroly ,ezzy
love you all and keep up the great work of the rebbe
sincerely ,
your cousins in ny
I love Mivtza Neshek
B“H
YEAH! AT LAST!
Remember right after 911, when there was an e-mail campaign (not sponsored by any Jewish organization) for WOMEN (NOT just Yiddisher women) to ”light a candle for peace,” on their porches, on Friday night, no less?
Ironically, I received such an e-mail then, from a Jewish woman I know. I had to explain to her that, as good as the idea sounds, at the hour they directed at the time, my SHABBOS candles would already be lit, INDOORS. I remember hoping then, that more Jewish ladies would feel the impulse to light Shabbos candles, as a result of that campaign.