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| The flame is a primary Jewish metaphor for the soul. Judaism enjoins us to be careful lest we put out the flame of someone's soul through careless or deliberate words or acts. Candle flames are the Jewish ritual representation of the nature of the soul. For example, it is customary to light on the anniversary of a family member's death, a yartzeit (in Yiddish yar=year, tzeit=time) candle to commemorate the travel of their soul from this plane of being. As the Sabbath ends, we light a braided, multi-wicked Havdallah candle to symbolize how our souls braided closer together while enjoying sacred time and community....the flames dancing around the wicks reflects the dancing our souls have done together that particular Shabbat. On Hanukkah the freeing of the Jewish soul is represented with eight days of candle lighting. For Shabbat or holiday candle-lighting, one customarily lights a pair candles, which mystics see as representing the feminine and masculine qualities within every human and similarly (really holographically) in the Cosmos or God. Some hassidim and mystics in other parts of the spectrum, like myself, recite an ancient verse before holy day candle lighting and lovemaking: L'shem Yichud Kudsheh Brikh-hu u'Shekhinteh, "for the sake of the unification of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and the Shekhinah," meaning that through this act may the fruits of masculine and feminine integration come to be - whether children, creativity, inner wholeness or world peace be the intended result. I understand blessing the Shabbat with candles to be a symbolic way to appreciate the gift of having an expanded soul-life on Shabbat. My sons, when younger, came over together to ask me: "The Torah says that God made Shabbat first and then taught it to us. Momma, so what does God do for Shabbat candles?" The answer once heard to a similar question is: God has us. The flickering flames of our souls viewed from my son's God perspective can be seen as God's Shabbat candles. In the old-country candle-making was a spiritual activity. During one of my Ukraine trips, a babushkeh (grandmother) told me the girls would gather with their mothers and aunts in the cemetery and roll out wax havdallah candles on the hot stone grave markers, dedicating their candle-making to the souls of those gone from embodied life upon whose graves they were working. Candles are very authentic Jewish prayer tools. Sometimes I imagine a mirror on each side of my Shabbat candles, reflecting infinite pairs, as though every one of our ancestors and every Jewish person around the planet senses we are lighting with them. I once toured the headquarters of the Lubavitch hassidim. (This story appears in full form under "Stories.") An orthodox community with many mystical traditions, they also separate men and women during prayer. My guide escorted me to the empty women's balcony. Women are exempt from daily synagogue attendance in orthodoxy. I peered down through the one-way glass partition upon a sea of men praying in clustered groups of ten or more. Each cluster was vigorously and tunefully praying a different section of the service. How intriguing! Upon arrival, a few of the men were planting and lighting five candles in their own individual shoe boxes of sand. (The sand is for fire safety.) Each began meditating in front of the candles as a start to their weekday morning prayer practice. I realized that the candles represented the Jewish mystical tradition of the five levels of the soul. Dayenu - Isn't it enough that Shabbat candle lighting as a routine is comforting? In our fast-paced rapidly changing world some dependable, low-demand, comforting structures in time are welcome. Not every Jew was reaching for spiritual intimacy with candle lighting. Yiddish prayers (called "tekhinas") remaining from an earlier more medieval mind set, tell us candle lighting was seen as a way of warding off dangerous spirits. Humans respond to light, in times of extended darkness we crave it. Today's dangerous spirits are our own mind states. Adults are as absorbed by looking at a flame, as are children, the visual warmth and memories are healing. After you've said the blessing for candle lighting if it is a holiday, perhaps Hanukkah, or Friday night), you might try having those at the table take turns saying this sacred phrase from psalms to one of the family or guests: "In your light I see light." (B'oraykh neer-eh or) If you have a grandchild or best friend, have them say this to you, say it back to her or him, keep it going, perhaps take turns with others. What do you feel with each person? What is new, or difficult, or awkward, or hopeful in the connection that happens through the verse. I can imagine my step-granddaughter Natalia at age three, her shining eyes looking up through gold curls at me, "I see light in your light, Grandma!" "I see light in your light, Natalia!" My husband Barry is trained as a physician and together we teach a course on bio-ethics, halachah and health crisis counseling at a seminary. During preparation for a session on euthanasia, we marveled at the appropriateness of a flame as the Jewish metaphor for the soul. Barry observed how most things we encounter in life are enclosed in containers, solid and limited within a defined boundary. The flame has a boundary that is not defined, it changes, it doesn't have a wall to it, two flames can blend and be separated, one can feel the effects of it, see it and yet not hold it, it defies containment...a flame is mysterious, as is the soul. An ember glows and with a puff of our breath explodes into light, a candle burns and with that same out-breath can be extinguished. The Torah describes God's breath fluttering on the surface of the waters. The next thing we read the scene is exploding with life forms. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Even the flame extinguished has sent its influence forward as expanding heat and light. Is a soul only within the body - or is the body like the wick upon which the flame dances and when released where and how does the energy go? There are five levels of the soul according to Jewish mystical tradition. These levels form a powerful opportunity to increase awareness of what it is to have a soul. If you use the candles in a box of sand, that would be a weekday method. Light one candle per level starting with Nefesh and meditate on its characteristics, then continue with Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah and Yechidah using the same approach. Just before the Havdallah ritual for ending shabbat on a Saturday night is a nice time to do the Five Levels of Soul experience with a group of family or friends. Click here to learn see a Diagram of the Flame with these five levels and to view a guide to leading this as a meditative visualization during a candle lighting, such as on Hanukkah, Havdallah or Shabbat. |
