16. Do We Light Before Blessing on the Candle？

There’s a beautiful dance at candle-lighting time, but who leads first: the flame or the blessing?

Rav Shlomo Katz explores the two primary minhagim surrounding the order of lighting Shabbos candles and reciting the bracha.

Why do some light first and others bless first? What’s the deeper reasoning behind each approach? And how does this moment which is seemingly so small, open the gates to the holiness of Shabbos?