Aunt Pearl and Grandma Becky’s Candlesticks

By Ruth Ellen Gruber Some time ago, I wrote a post including my aunt Pearl Gruber Kaplan’s recollections of her mother, my grandmother, Rebecca (Rosenberg Gruber) Rifkin, lighting the candlesticks on Friday night. Here is a recent picture of Aunt Pearl, with a still life she painted of the Shabbos candles, and the candlesticks themselves. [...]

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Using the Hands in Blessing the Candles

In an article “Hand Signs of the Jews” on the Chabad web site, I found this explanation of using the hands in blessing the Candles — as so vividly portrayed on women’s tombstones. Blessings over Shabbat Candles When Shabbat candles are lit, a ritual involving hands takes place. Usually this is done by the woman [...]

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Recollections — Pearl Gruber Kaplan

Pearl Gruber Kaplan is my father’s older sister, the oldest of the seven children of my grandparents, Frank and Rebecca Rosenberg Gruber. Now more than 90, Aunt Pearl lives in Santa Barbara, California. I asked her for her recollections of candle-lighting, when she was growing up in Akron, Ohio. Yes, my mother lit the candles, [...]

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