Braided candle. Kiddush cup. Spice box. Havdalah is intended to activate all five senses - feeling the cup, smelling the spices, seeing the flames from the candle, hearing the blessings, tasting the wine. By engaging with the senses, Havdalah brings us away from the cerebral spiritual realm and back into our bodies. Recorded as early as 1300, Jews hold their hands up to the candle and gaze at the reflection of light through their fingernails, a sort of visualization of a spiritual permeation into the hands we use for labor.
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