This woman who literally lives to strengthen Judaism in Charleston, was raised in Denmark, South Carolina, with no Jewish education, and aside from the presence of her grandmother\u2019s candlesticks which her mother lit every week, little Jewish observance. When she got married and moved to Charleston, she slowly embraced yiddishkeit<\/i> and together, she and her husband took on one mitzvah<\/i> after the next until they were not only observant, but one of the backbones of the Jewish community.<\/p>\n
Meeting this firebrand of a woman, no one would ever think she could be insecure about her Judaism, but she recently confided in me how difficult it was to be one of the only observant Jews among her friends. Many would go out to non-kosher restaurants while she was left behind; she was one of the few who was Shomer Shabbos<\/i>, which cast her aside as \u201cdifferent\u201d. A half century later, despite all that she\u2019s accomplished, she still remembers how isolated she sometimes felt, and how painful it was.<\/p>\n
Not everyone has the strength of a Bubbie Fay and hearing her story, I understand why it is so difficult for Jews in Charleston to try one Shabbos<\/i>, no matter how intriguing an idea they may find it to be. \u00a0But as much as I get it, every year as The Shabbos Project rolls around and I see pictures on Facebook of communities that were able to pull it off, I feel inspired but also a little sad that our community is not among them.<\/p>\n
And so this year, for the International Shabbos Project, we\u2019ve decided to participate but try something different.<\/p>\n
Sometime around Rosh Hashana, I received the Eishes Chayil <\/i>Candle Lighting Treasury in the mail and after picking it up to read, I soon found myself unable to put the book down. The author, Rabbi Dov Weller, takes a mitzvah<\/i> that I have always taken for granted and makes it fresh and meaningful by going into explanations about the customs and sharing moving stories.<\/p>\n
Fifty years ago, most Jewish women, no matter how far removed they were from Judaism, lit Shabbos<\/em> candles, which is perhaps why many conjure the image of a woman lighting candles as the emblem of Judaism. Nowadays, for whatever reason, many Jewish women do not light. But inspired by the book, this week, we are daring to attempt something tremendous: to encourage every Jewish household in Charleston to light Shabbos<\/i> candles in honor of the Shabbos Project.<\/p>\n Despite the simplicity of the idea, I’ve feared that like other Shabbos initiatives we\u2019ve tried to encourage, it won\u2019t catch on. I was pleasantly surprised when many of the other Jewish organizations and synagogues in town agreed to encourage their congregants to join in. I was even more excited when a group of women came up to me in shul<\/i> to tell me they had decided to join our initiative and bring in Shabbos<\/i> with candles. A number of them admitted they had lit many years ago but for whatever reason, had stopped lighting. One woman told me she would need to dust off her grandmother\u2019s candlesticks, but she was excited to bring this mitzvah<\/i> to her home once more. Many spoke with nostalgia about watching their grandmothers light and the beauty it had brought to the home. These women were from across the spectrum of the Jewish community- Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, unaffiliated and their messages have infused me with hope that maybe we can really bring candle lighting back to our community, even if it is just for one week.<\/p>\n But ironically, there is one woman in our Jewish community who will not be lighting Shabbos<\/i> candles this Friday: Fay Novit- Grabin. This Friday, Bubbie Fay will be having heart surgery and will be unable to light. And so many in our community have decided to dedicate the community candle lighting initiative in the merit of her refuah shlaima<\/i>.<\/p>\n Nothing could be more fitting. Because there is a piece of Bubbie Fay\u2019s story that I did not share. When women light Shabbos<\/em> candles, the Tefilla<\/em> we whisper is for us to merit to raise children and grandchildren who love and fear G-d, who illuminate the world with Torah<\/i> and ma\u2019asim tovim <\/i>(good deeds). With all the of the challenges that Bubbie Fay endured to be frum<\/em>, she was rewarded for her years of mesiras nefesh<\/i>, (self-sacrifice) with the fruition of this Tefilla<\/em>, in a way that is truly an anomaly in Charleston. This woman from Denmark, South Carolina is the proud grandmother of seven grandchildren, all frum<\/i> and eighteen frum<\/i> great-grandchildren. One of her grandchildren is Rabbi Dov Weller, author of the Candle Lighting Treasury, who has illuminated the world, with his insights on candle lighting, and who was the inspiration for the candle lighting initiative.<\/p>\n And so with the light that Bubbie Fay inspired within her own family and community, and through the powerful words of her grandson, may the light of the Jewish women\u2019s candles in Charleston this week, be a merit for her complete recovery.<\/p>\n Please join the Charleston community and daven<\/em> for Fayge Rochel bas Chaya Bayla at candle lighting.<\/p>\n The Shabbos Project. Ever since I saw the video about how the South African Jewish community, most of whom are not observant, came together to try out a Shabbos, I\u2019ve been gripped by the idea. The pictures of hundreds of Jewish women baking challah on the streets of Johannesburg and the thousands that attended the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133465,"featured_media":58627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Candles-1-296x300.jpg\")
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