אמי זכרונה לברכה

What is a צדיק? uses ביעליק that word to describe his mother, knowing that it is a strong word to use. In the first sentence he declares his mother a צדקת גמורה in the first sentence of the song because he is trying to show that there is no doubt that she is that. He takes it upon himself to convince the readers that his mother is a true צדקת. The first sentence becomes the conclusion (המסקנה).

ביעליק begins the story by writing that his mother was a צדקת but she was also a very poor widow. And on Friday afternoon, (the time of the day when the sun is directly over the trees) the house is very poor and bare.

She searched and happened to find שתי פרוטות, which is very little money, and it was like a miracle. Then she asked herself, should I buy bread or candles? She didn�t know what to do. Her children are hungry but she also wants to do the mitzvah of הדלקת נירות. She had to decide between feeding her children and doing a mitzvah. She then decides to buy the candles.

Then the mother, who is used to lighting 7 candles according to her tradition, apologizes to G-d for only lighting 2 candles. She talks rhetorically and says, what can I do, I couldn�t afford 7 candles! And may you be happy with me blessing on only 2 candles.

She then begins to prepare for the Shabbat.

1. She puts on a tablecloth � the tablecloth is clean (1. of dirt and 2. of bread).

2. she covers her head with aשביס-שבת  

3. she changes her clothing and puts on a new dress. 3. she prepares for the Shabbat, spiritually.

Every was she prepared for the Shabbat was the way the כהן prepared himself when lighting the menorah.

As she is lighting the candles, she is sad and can no longer hold back the tears. She wants to light the candles with happiness and respect for the Shabbat but her heart feels like it is ready to burst and her life is so bitter. A tear falls from her face onto one of the candles and it extinguishes it. She had just done so much to prepare for the Shabbat and one tear falls and extinguishes one of the candles. She suffered and sacrificed so much for 2 candles and now she can�t even light one of them.

The Shabbat now became embarrassed because one of her eyes (a candle) has been blinded. The mother became shocked when she saw that this happened. She talks to G-d and says, you don�t like my present? What sin did the Shabbat do to you? If you want to punish someone, then punish me because I lit 2 candles instead of 7.

Then she asks why did you take her eye away? She then covered her eyes and started praying in fear (בחילה סולדת) and her shoulders began to shake because she was crying. She is praying to G-d with all her strength and all her אמונה.

The mother begins to pray from the bottom of her heart and from her throat, the cries of the  אמהות וּכרובים. The שמײם have never seen a soul that had been so overwhelmed by pain over not having נירות for Shabbat and they had never seen a תפילה like that before � האנשה because the שמײם are given human characteristics.

Another tear that was burning in her, is hot like fire, and the tear came down and the candle that had been extinguished lit up again. Before she was able to open her eyes, her son ביעליק, saw אור שבעת הימים

(What is הימים שבעת אור? When G-d made the world there was light that he used and he saved that light for the צדיקים and when they go to שמים, G-d allows them to use the light � אור שבעת הימים)

He sees the אור שבעת הימים and says is mother is a צדקת because G-d kissed the candles and that�s why he saw the light.

The emotion and pain that his mother had in her תפילה was like תפילת חנה. She had so much faith in G-d but also so much suffering but her love of מצװת and of G-d is what made her seem like a צדקת.

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