In the July 18 edition of The Jewish Link (“A Solution to an Age-Old Question” July 18, 2024), a reader asks the question: How can we keep the Shabbat candles burning after we’ve initially lit them? The solution he suggests is to cut down the candle wicks to an 1/8th-1/4 inch in length.
What has worked for me, and generations of Jewish women, is the custom of pre-lighting the candles and extinguishing them, each one separately and briefly, to ensure that the wicks will catch quickly and will burn properly when lit for Shabbat. It also serves the purpose of having less time lapse between the act of lighting the candles and the recitation of the bracha when later bringing in Shabbat. It is a beautiful minhag that allows the men of the household to participate in preparation of the candles that the woman ultimately lights. It is a custom that my grandmother used to call “untoppin” in Yiddish.
The source of this custom is Orach Chaim 264:9, a section in the Shulchan Aruch, a central codification of Jewish law compiled by Rabbi Yosef Karo in the 16th century.
The text states:
“מהבהבין את הפתילות, דהיינו שמדליקין אותן ומכבין אותן כדי שיהו מחורכין ונוחין להדליק” which translates “One singes the wicks, meaning that one lights them and extinguishes them so that they will be charred and easy to light.”
I find it helpful and heartwarming when my husband does it in our home, and I’ve encouraged my sons to get in the habit of doing so as well, particularly as they begin or start thinking about building their own “bayit ne’eman b’Yisrael.
May the shalom bayit that the Shabbat candles bring to each of our homes radiate shalom al Yisrael and throughout the world.
