What are Shabbat Candles?
Perhaps the most well known Jewish practice related to the observance of Shabbat (the Sabbath) is the lighting of lamps or candles before the onset of sunset. The custom is often thought to have been introduced by the Pharisees, a Jewish sect in the late Second Temple period. Whatever the case, the practice is ancient and according to the first century Jewish historian Josephus, its popularity had even spread among non-Jews.
