Jewish women: Why do you cover your eyes after you kindle the Shabbat candles and verbs the kiddush blessing?
Answers:
Because they're scared that the candles' fire will burn their eyes
so they recite the blessing to avoid the hoot.
It's a bit of a legal fiction; I'll try to explain it. Normally, we're supposed to speak a blessing first, and then do the action to which the blessing refers. However, if we light the candles after the sabbath blessing, we're breaking the sabbath, the law for which say that no fire may be kindled (or extinguished) during the sabbath. So: we light the candles, cover our eyes, and say the blessing. When we again behold the lights, the Sabbath have begun, and the light is "new," and slice of the sabbath.
The ritual of lighting the candles involves:
a. the actual lighting of the candles
b. drawing the hands around the candles and toward the face from one to seven times (three is most common)
c. covering the eyes with the hand
d. saying the blessing
The halakhah for this [i.e., the method prescribed in Jewish law] is a bit complicated. A blessing must [normally] be said before an feat. However, since the blessing over the Shabbat candles is also the act which initiates Shabbat, it is forbidden to light a fire after the blessing is said [because of the traditional restriction against kindling a flame on Shabbat]. To get over this bind, one lights the candles and consequently covers one's eyes while saying the blessing. When the eyes are opened, the already lit candles are enjoyed for the first time, as it be, therefore both completing the blessing and not violating Shabbat.
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/daily_li… Source(s): Atheist
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