Seeking to elevate your Shabbat dinner or help your community prepare for Shabbat? Look no further! Help your community deepen and personalize their Shabbat experience through DIY Shabbat candle making! In this program, participants will focus their Shabbat experience on the process of making and lighting Shabbat candles. Participants will make their own Shabbat candles and set personal intentions for the coming Shabbat. Depending on if the program is hosted on Friday night or a weekday, participants may light their beautiful candles together to bring in Shabbat or take their candles home to use for an upcoming Shabbat. 

Materials

• Choose what kind of candles you want to make:
  • Beeswax Candle-Making
    • Check out this link for inspo, materials, and instructions 
  • Dip Dye Candle Making
    • Check out this link for inspo, materials, and instructions 
• Candle Painting
  • Check out this link for inspo, materials, and instructions. 
• Printed copies of the blessing over the candles in all the languages spoken in the community
  • Ex. Hebrew, English, Ladino, etc. It’s also great to include transliteration for accessibility. HERE is a link to the text of the blessing. 
• Small strips of paper 
• Pens 
• Scissors 
• Small matchboxes 
• Candle holders 
• Tin foil or tin foil candle holders 

Program Outline (insert your total duration for the program):

• Program Preparation 
• Beginning – Welcome Guests and Give Framing (15min) 
• Middle – Candle Making and Intention Setting Time (30min) 
• End – Shabbat Candle Lighting Time (~10min) 

Program Details:

Program Preparation

•  Set out drinks and snacks. 
• Set out the supplies in an inviting way so that guests have easy access. 
• Designate a specific space in the home to place the candles. 
• Make sure it’s away from flammable objects and consider putting down tin foil or a plate for easy wax cleanup. 

• Consider making a candle example and a written intention example to show to guests for inspiration. 
• Think about how you’re going to lead the candle blessing (and other ritual blessings if that is the custom of your home). ○ Perhaps you want to learn the Hebrew blessing for the first time or read the blessing in English. Maybe you want to make your own translation of the English or translate to another language spoken in your community. 
• If leading blessings or rituals make you nervous or is something that still feels new, this is also a great place to ask for a collaborator. Is there someone in your community or in your home who has a great melody they use for the blessing? Or perhaps a friend or roommate who can teach you how to say the blessing so you can try leading something new! 

Always feel free to contact your Jewish Life Specialist if you want support in how to lead Jewish rituals in a way that is authentically yours! 

Beginning – Welcome Guests and Give Framing (15min)

•  Consider playing some Shabbat music to get people in the mood for Shabbat 
• “Shabbat Music” could be any number of things. Pick what feels restful and meaningful to your community. 
• Here are a few playlists I like on Spotify:
  • Kabbalat Shabbat Music 
  • Shabbat Vibes 
  • Songs by Jewish Artists 
• Welcome everyone and thank them for coming. 
• Explain the order of the evening:
  • Example of what you could say:
    • We’ll spend the next 30 minutes making our candles and writing intentions for when we bless the candles. We invite you to follow the candle-making instructions and when you’re done, place them on the counter over there in the candle holders so that we can all light our handmade candles together to bring in Shabbat. We also invite you to write an intention for what you want to be thinking about as we recite the blessing over the candles tonight. For example, when we light candles tonight, my intention is to look around and appreciate all the amazing people who are here to celebrate Shabbat together! Let me know if you have any questions and happy candle-making! 

Middle – Candle Making and Intention Setting Time (30min)

•  Make candles with your guests. 
• Write intentions with your guests. 
• When there are about 5 minutes left in this time block, invite your guests to finish up and place their candles on the counter/designated area. 

End – Shabbat Candle Lighting Time (~10min)

• Invite everyone to gather around the candles and light the candles they made. 
• Be sure to make a few extra or have a few tea lights on hand so that guests who arrive late can still participate. 
• Before blessing the candles, invite your guests to take a look at or think about the intentions they set for lighting candles together tonight. 
• Optional: Ask if anyone wants to share their intention with the group! 
• Pass out the candle blessing sheets. 
• Lead or delegate the blessing over the candles. 
• Take a moment to take in the beautiful light of your handmade Shabbat candles. Enjoy a meaningful Shabbat meal full of warmth and light!