Shabbat Candle Lighting as a Spiritual Practice

In an exodus of almost biblical proportions, Jewish women have left the folds of their religion of birth in search of “something more.”  They want something more meaningful and spiritual when it comes to religious practice and they want to observe their religion in a more egalitarian and Goddess-friendly environment. However, if you are one of these women, you need not search outside Judaism.  No need to pack your bags and hurry off to some other religious or spiritual tradition.  Simply take on the Sabbath candle lighting practice and you’ll find what you are looking for right in the comfort of your home.   In fact, when Jewish women all over the world light the Shabbat candles before sunset on Friday night, they become priestesses creating sacred space and drawing the Divine Feminine into their experience – and doing it within the Jewish tradition.

Modern Jewish women often don’t realize that their religious tradition has given them a time-honored and important position that allows them to influence their own spiritual lives as well as those of their families. In fact, Jewish women have the power to make every home-based holiday, ritual observance or spiritual practice both meaningful and spiritual. They can create sacred space in the home, invoke the Divine into that space, and preside over the rituals they conduct in their sanctuary.  In addition, by taking a few simply steps, they also can transform their empty observances into “meaning-full and spirit-full” rituals and practices.

Creating sacred space happens simply by taking on the spiritual practice of lighting the Shabbat candles each week. Doing so automatically creates a mikdash, a sanctuary, like the one built in the desert so God could “dwell among” the Israelites.  While there are Shabbat preparations that help create sacred space, if you simply continue this one practice, each week it will become easier to feel the Divine Presence joining you, and before long you will find the Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God, a frequent guest -- if not a permanent resident -- in your home and in your life.

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