History
The requirement to light Shabbat candles is of rabbinic origin. It is traditional to light two candles, but in some homes an additional candle is lit for each child. The lighting of Shabbat candles has a dual purpose: To "honor Shabbat" (כבוד שבת) and create shalom bayit or domestic peace (שלום בית).
In Yiddish, lighting the candles is known as "licht bentschen" or "licht tsinden."
Read more about this topic: Shabbat Candles
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It may be well to remember that the highest level of moral aspiration recorded in history was reached by a few ancient Jews—Micah, Isaiah, and the rest—who took no count whatever of what might not happen to them after death. It is not obvious to me why the same point should not by and by be reached by the Gentiles.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“I believe that history might be, and ought to be, taught in a new fashion so as to make the meaning of it as a process of evolution intelligible to the young.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)