Hadlakas Neiros with Kavannah

In the quiet moment after the flames catch, with your hands still covering your eyes, your heart opens to Hashem in a tefillah that Jewish mothers have whispered for generations.

The Moment After the Flame

There is a special moment every Erev Shabbos. The match has been struck, the wicks are lit, and you draw your hands over the flames. As you cover your eyes, the rushing of the week fades, and you are standing directly before Hashem.

This is when a Jewish woman pours out her heart. This tefillah is for everything she carries in her heart: her children, her husband, her home, and her hopes for peace. Generations of mothers have stood in this exact spot, eyes covered, davening for their families.

The Yehi Ratzon (May It Be Your Will) said after hadlakas neiros (lighting the Shabbos candles) is this private tefillah. It appears in many siddurim and in the Siddur traditions passed from mother to daughter. In these few lines, a woman asks Hashem for the things that matter most: gracious children who walk in Torah, a home filled with light, and the peace that only Shabbos can bring.

A Personal Tefillah After Lighting

You have already lit the candles. Your hands are over your eyes or just coming down. The bracha has been said. Now, before you open your eyes to the Shabbos table, stay in that place for one more moment. Take a moment to feel the kedushah of the candles. Speak to Hashem as a daughter speaks to her Father:

Ribono Shel Olam, I have just lit the Shabbos candles in my home. I am standing before You in this sacred moment, asking You to bring Your light into every corner of my family’s life. Please bless my children with Torah, with good middos, and with hearts that are drawn to You. Watch over my husband and give him strength. Let there be sholom in our home, not just on Shabbos but every day. I am placing my family in Your hands, Hashem. Elokah d’Meir aneni.

If giving tzedakah, add:

In the zechus of the tzedakah I am giving for Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, may the light of these candles carry my tefillah before Your throne. Ribono Shel Olam, just as I am lighting up my home, please light the way for my family.

Yehi Ratzon After Hadlakas Neiros: The Full Prayer

Pronunciation guide: ch — a soft sound from the throat, as in “Bach.” ei as in “hey.” ai as in “eye.” oi (Ashkenazi) rhymes with “boy.” a (Sephardi) as in “father.”

When saying this tefillah for your family, hold their Hebrew names in your heart: your children as ben/bas your mother’s Hebrew name, your husband as ben your mother’s Hebrew name.

What This Prayer Is Really Asking For

Shet’choneini v’es ishi v’es bonai v’es b’nosai

“That You be gracious to me and to my husband and to my sons and to my daughters.”

The very first request in this tefillah is not for wealth. Not for honor. It is for chein (grace), from the Hebrew root ח-נ-נ, the language of undeserved kindness, a gift from Hashem that we cannot produce on our own. A mother lights the candles and the first word out of her heart is: be gracious. To me, to him, to all of them. Bereishis 33:5 says, “the children whom God has graciously given your servant.” When you stand at your candles and say these words, you are asking Hashem for the most basic and most precious thing: let Your kindness rest on every person sitting at my table.

Zera shel oiroh

“Offspring of light.”

You have just lit a physical flame. Now you ask for a spiritual one. The word oiroh comes from the same root as or, light — the language of “Yehi or,” let there be light (Bereishis 1:3). The Gemara in Shabbos 23b teaches that one who is careful with the lamp merits children who are talmidei chachamim, Torah scholars, because “ner mitzvah v’Torah or,” the mitzvah is a lamp and Torah is the light (Proverbs 6:23; Shabbos 23b). When you say “zera shel oiroh,” you are connecting the flame in front of you to the light you hope will burn inside your children.

Ono sh’ma es t’chinosi bo’eis hazois

“Please, hear my supplication at this time.”

The word techina comes from the root ח-נ-ן. It is the language of pleading for grace, for kindness we cannot demand. It is different from a formal request. A techina is a heartfelt plea. It is a mother pouring herself out. And notice the words “bo’eis hazois,” at this time, right now, in this very moment. Many women treat hadlakas neiros as a particularly fitting time for personal tefillah, a moment to speak to Hashem with unusual openness and hope. You are not just asking Hashem to hear you someday. You are asking Him to hear you now, while the flames are still fresh and the kedushah of Shabbos is arriving.

V’ho’eir neireinu shelo yichbeh l’oilom vo’ed

“And cause our light to shine that it may never be extinguished.”

The root נ-ר means “candle” or “lamp.” You lit a candle that will burn through Shabbos and then go out. But the light you are davening for here is something else entirely. You are asking for a light that never goes out: the light of Torah in your home, the light of emunah in your children, the light of sholom between husband and wife. Rashi on Shabbos 25b connects the Shabbos lamp to peace in the home, teaching that where there is no lamp, there is no peace, because one stumbles in the dark (Rashi, Shabbos 25b). When you say these closing words, you are asking Hashem to take the small flame you just lit and turn it into something eternal.

How to Say This Tefillah

This Yehi Ratzon is said immediately after the bracha on hadlakas neiros. The minhag is that a woman lights the candles, draws her hands over the flames toward herself, covers her eyes, says the bracha, and then says this Yehi Ratzon while her eyes are still covered. Some women keep their eyes covered through the entire tefillah. Others open their eyes and say it quietly while looking at the flames. There is no single minhag that every community follows. What matters is that you are speaking to Hashem with sincere kavanah.

Many women add personal tefillos after the Yehi Ratzon, or use that moment to speak to Hashem in their own words. They daven for a child who is struggling, for a shidduch, for parnassah, or for a family member who is unwell. Classical sources already treat hadlakas neiros as a fitting time for a mother’s tefillah, especially for her children.

If you do not know the Hebrew, say it in English or follow the transliteration above. Hashem hears the tefillah of a mother’s heart in any language. Set your kavanah simply: “I am standing before Hashem at the entrance of Shabbos, bringing light into my home and asking Him to bring light into every part of my family’s life.”

There is a deep connection between tefillah and tzedakah, and Erev Shabbos is one of the most powerful times to bring them together. Many women have the minhag to put coins in a tzedakah box just before lighting. When you combine your tefillah at the candles with tzedakah given in the zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, you are combining your tefillah and your actions in a single act of devotion. After your tefillah, you may add: Elokah d’Meir aneni.
Give Tzedakah in the Zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness

The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 18a-18b) tells how Bruria asked Rabbi Meir to rescue her sister, who had been condemned by the Romans to a house of shame. There seemed to be no way out. Rabbi Meir approached the guard with a bribe, teaching him to say “Elokah d’Meir aneni!” — “God of Meir, answer me!” — if he was ever in danger. When the guard asked for proof, Rabbi Meir threw a clod of earth at nearby man-eating dogs. They lunged to devour him, and he called out the words — the dogs turned away. The guard was convinced and released her, later using these powerful words to miraculously save his life. When we daven with these words, we are asking Hashem to answer our prayer in the merit of this great tzaddik and the miracles he merited.

Every Erev Shabbos, you stand at your candles and ask Hashem for the same thing: bring light into my family. Keep the darkness away. The connection is not accidental. Giving tzedakah for Rabbi Meir at hadlakas neiros connects your tefillah to his legacy of bringing about yeshuos. You are not davening to a person. You are asking Hashem to answer you in the combined zechus of this tzaddik and your own ma’aseh of chesed.

Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities, founded in 1799, supports Torah scholars and the poor in Eretz Yisrael. The talmidei chachamim at the kever in Tiberias daven for the names submitted to them. When you give before Shabbos, your tzedakah and your candle-lighting tefillah rise together.

What To Do After Saying It

The tefillah at candle lighting asks for sholom bayis, for children who learn Torah, for bracha in the home. Tefillah is essential, but we must also do our hishtadlus to see these brachos fulfilled.

Sholom bayis starts with how a couple speaks to each other on Erev Shabbos. The pressure of preparing for Shabbos can bring tension into the home right at the moment you are trying to bring kedushah. Talk to each other about what each person needs on Friday afternoon. If things get tight, step back. A calm Erev Shabbos is itself a bracha.

For children, the Shabbos table is one of the most powerful chinuch tools you have. Sing with them. Ask them about their parsha sheets. Let them share a vort. If a child is going through a difficult stage, your consistent warmth at the table is crucial. The consistency matters more than any single conversation.

If there are challenges in your home, between husband and wife, or between parents and children, you do not have to carry these burdens alone. Speak with a rav, a rebbetzin, or a professional who understands a Torah home. Seeking guidance is an important form of hishtadlus.

Questions Women Ask About This Tefillah

A Blessing for Your Shabbos Table

Whatever your family needs, know that the tefillah you say at your Shabbos candles reaches very high.

May the light you kindle every Erev Shabbos spread through every room of your home. May your children grow into people who illuminate the world with Torah and with good deeds, just as you asked. May there be sholom between you and your husband, real sholom, the kind that makes a home feel like a mikdash me’at. And may the Ribbono Shel Olam, who said “Yehi ohr” and filled the world with light, hear the prayer of your heart and answer you with bracha, with oiroh, and with peace.

You can submit a prayer request to the talmidei chachamim at the kever of Rabbi Meir in Tiberias at no cost, they will daven for your family by name through Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities. And if you would like to give tzedakah in Rabbi Meir’s zechus as well, your kindness will rise together with your tefillah.