Several times a year we light candles for family members who have passed.   These are not just any candles.  These are special candles intended to burn for 24 hours in memory of the loved ones lost.

I always watched my parents light these candles every year, on certain holidays and on a date in the Jewish calendar commemorating their loved one’s passing.   Honestly, I never really understood the significance of the ceremony in which they engaged dutifully and quietly.

Yet now, I am at that stage in life where I am lighting these same special candles for loved ones lost.  Youth is wasted on the young, right?  I’m confident I now understand how my parents felt all through the years taking these moments to reflect on an ongoing special connection to people they loved. 

I am sure there are special prayers to say but I don’t know them.  I am sure there are special rituals that go with the lighting of the candles but I don’t know those either.  What I do know is that this particular candle is a special memorial to your loved one and, in an odd way, there is something  very comforting in this tradition.

Just an observation on this Tuesday morning.