The "Importance" of Lighting the Candles on Shabbat

This is one Jewish tradition that I try to make happen each week, although with a hectic summer that included a lot of time away from home, it was not easy to do. I welcome the more routine schedule of the fall which will permit us to celebrate Shabbat more regularly. My son’s first Hebrew word was challah, so this time of the week has special meaning and reminds me of how quickly he is developing.

If that was not reason enough, last week when we lit the Shabbat candles after a long absence, my son starting singing Happy Birthday…his birthday is in June, so obviously this was a more recent memory than Shabbat, although he had no trouble saying challah as he grabbed for the loaf! Still, it might be time to get back to this…