Candles and Flame

(this section © Rabbi Goldie Milgram)

The flame can be seen as 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 of candles, which mystics see as representing the feminine and masculine qualities within every human. Candles are very authentic Jewish prayer tools and Shabbat candle lighting as a routine can be very comforting. In our fast-paced rapidly changing world, some dependable, low-demand, comforting structures in time are always 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, and the visual warmth and memories are healing.

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.Ê 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.