Lighting the Shabbat or Sabbath Candles is one of the things my family looks forward to each Friday evening.  Most of the time we are attending services at the Synagogue (or Church if you prefer) where we assemble Erev Shabbat (Evening Sabbath).  This tradition comes from the home and Jewish homes for millennia, have maintained this tradition, it is a privilege and a pleasure for us to continue this tradition.  It is the wife, the woman of the house who is blessed with performing this event of “ushering in the Sabbath with the lighting of the candles”.

From all indications this is a tradition started at the time of Moses 3,400 years ago as the children of Israel left Egypt.