How to Light a Yahrzeit

The Yahrzeit candle is an important part of Jewish religious culture.

Yahrzeit is a Yiddish term indicating the one year anniversary of a person's death. Jewish traditions calls for lighting a Yahrzeit candle during the week immediately following a person's death, the mourning period known as Shiva. Mourners also light Yahrzeit candles on the anniversary of a loved one's death and during certain Jewish holidays. Yahrzeit candles made to burn for 24 hours.

Things You'll Need

• Jewish calendar
• Candle
• Lighter

Instructions

1. Find out the person's death date. Use this to calculate the week-long period of mourning on the calendar. Don't calculate from the date of their burial.

2. Memorialize the anniversary of the death of a loved one by lighting the candle at sundown of the day before the death being marked. For example, if your relative died on the morning of June 12, the next year light the candle at sundown on June 11. This is due to the Jewish custom of marking the new day's start at sundown. Use a 24-hour candle to make sure it burns long enough. An electric light bulb is an acceptable alternative if you feel uncomfortable burning a candle that long.

3. Put the candle out at sunup. Relight it the next day at sundown and repeat the process for seven full days if you are marking the initial period of mourning.

4. Light the candle during the Yom Kippur, Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot holidays. The candle lighting is a custom not Jewish law, so when and how often you use the candle during these holidays is a matter of personal preference. In Israel it is common practice for people to light a Yahrzeit candle on Holocaust Memorial Day even if they are not marking the loss of a specific person.

References

• Judaica Guide: Yahrzeit Candle
• Shemot: How to Light Yahrzeit Memorial Candles