BH

As I light the Shabbos candles,

I daven to Hashem,

I say my many tefilos

With tears… rolling down my face.

Then… I think of those many families in Eretz Yisroel

Who are now broken forever…

By terrorists, killing innocent people they’ve never known.

A father?! A mother?! A teen?! A child?!

A baby?!

What did THEY do to them?! Nothing!

We all daven for them and everyone to be safe,

We see in some stories, openly how our Father answers our tefilos.

As I uncover my eyes, the tears still gliding slowly down my face,

I watch my candle, my fire, burn and soar up high, as if sending the message to The One On High.

Comforted by that knowledge, the sparkling light of the candles and the holiness of Shabbos,

My tense body, face glowing now with radiance, miraculously calms down to a peaceful and restful feeling.

I watch my candle burning, and I see the message Hashem gifts me every single week.

I lower my hands slowly and turn to look at my mother, who stands there still, holding her whispered prayers in close to her fluttering eyelids. She davens passionately and desperately for every one of her children, and I ask Hashem for one last wish.

I ask that when my mother is ready to look back at the candles, she sees that every one of her children will be safe and sound this week again.

I hope she knows that with every wick she sparks for us, she rekindles our promise from Hashem. My mother and I, we light our candles, and because we do so, it is we who keep our family safe. Well, only because we always know that Hashem is not far behind us.

 

— Shayna Ceitlin, Age 15
Beis Rivka Montreal
Montreal, Canada