Chapter 75:4
Lighting the Shabbos Candles
4. Generally, one should recite the blessing for a Mitzvah just before one
performs the act. Lighting Shabbos candles, however, is an exception to
this rule, because a woman generally accepts the Shabbos when she lights
candles, and reciting the blessing is considered the initial stage of the
candle lighting. Thus, if she recited the blessing first, Shabbos will have
already begun for her, and she would be forbidden to light.
Accordingly, she should light the candles first, then cover her face with
her hands, so that she doesn't see the candles while making the blessing;
once she has made the blessing she should remove her hands and look at the
candles - it will be as if she blessed before lighting (1). (To keep a
uniform practice, this same procedure should be followed on festivals (2)
[although, on those days, it is permitted to kindle a light from an
existing flame].)
The candles that are of primary importance are those on (or near) the table
on which the Shabbos meal is served, and hence, it is through those
particular candles that Shabbos is accepted. Therefore, they should be lit
last (3).
In extreme situations, for example, when a woman must go to the Mikvah
(ritual bath), to a wedding celebration, or to attend to other pressing
matters, she may stipulate [before lighting] that lighting the candles
does not constitute an acceptance of the Shabbos. (See Chapter 160, Law 5.)
Under such circumstances, she is allowed to recite the blessing beforehand.
This stipulation need not be recited verbally.
FOOTNOTES:
(1) The Derech HaChaim rules that if a man is lighting the Shabbos candles,
he should follow the same procedure as a woman, even though he will not be
accepting Shabbos through the lighting.
(2) Rabbi Akivah Eiger disagrees, and rules that on Yom Tov, the blessing
is said before lighting the candles.
(3) The Mogein Avraham rules that the blessing should be recited over the
candles that are on or near the table, however it can be recited while
lighting in any place the household will occupy and use.
