(yahrzeit lamp)
A light kindled on the anniversary of the death of a close relative, as well as on Yom Kippur and certain other holidays.
In North Africa, many memorial lamps hanging in synagogues are made of glass. Memorial lamps made of brass and hung on the wall are called “kandil.”
Behrouzi, Nitza, ed.. “Memorial Lamps for Synagogues.” and “Glass Cups for Memorial Lamps.” From the Remotest West: Ceremonial Objects from Synagogues in Spanish Morocco: The Hananiah Dahan Collection, Tel Aviv: Eretz Israel Museum, 1989, pp. 65-99.
Hoz, Yael. “Lehadlik Ner Lifneyi Hashem Le-Shana Achat Le-Menuchat Nefesh: Lukhiyot Ha-Zikharon Mi-Klaf shel Yehudei Italia [To Light a Candle before God for One Year for the Repose of the Soul: Small Parchment Memorial Plaques of the Italian Jews].” Pe’amim: Studies in Oriental Jewry, 98/99, Yad Izhak Ben Zvi, 2004, pp. 155-85.
Oppenheimer, Steven. “The Yahrzeit Light.” Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, vol. 37, 1999, pp. 101-16.
Sabar, Shalom. “Zikharon Be-Kufsa shel Pach: Nerot Neshama Yisra’eliyim ve-Dimuyihem be-Tarbut ha-Popularit [Memory in a Tin Can: Israeli Memorial Candles and their Images in Popular Culture].” Zhok Ha-Goral: Kelim le-Nerot Neshama ve-le-Nerot Zikharon be-Omanut Yehudit Akhshawit shel Askholat Betzalel [Keep it Light: Vessels for Memorial and Remembrance Candles in Contemporary Jewish Art of the Bezalel School], ed. Shirat-Miriam Shamir et al., Jerusalem: The Jerusalem Biennale, 2017, pp. 27-35, 36e-46e.
Sperber, Daniel. “The Memorial Candle.” The Jewish Life Cycle: Custom, Lore and Iconography – Jewish Customs from the Cradle to the Grave, Ramat Gan and Oxford: Bar-Ilan University Press and Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 567-87.
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