Havdalah is a Jewish religious ceremony that marks the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushers in the new week. The ritual involves lighting a special havdalah candle with several wicks, blessing a cup of wine and smelling sweet spices. Shabbat ends on Saturday night after the appearance of three stars in the sky. Some communities delay the Havdalah in order to prolong Shabbat.
Customs
Like kiddush, havdalah is recited over a cup of kosher wine or grape juice, although other beverages may be used if wine or grape juice are not available. Spices, called besamim in Hebrew, often stored in an artistically decorative spice container in order to beautify and honor the mitzvah, are handed around so that everyone can smell the fragrance. In many Sephardi and Mizrahi communities, branches of aromatic plants are used for this purpose, while Ashkenazim have traditionally used cloves. A special braided Havdalah candle with more than one wick is lit, and a blessing is recited. If a special havdalah candle is not available, two candles can be used, and the two flames joined when reciting the blessing. When reciting the words "Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam, bo're m'orei ha'esh," it is customary for the participants to hold their hands up to the candle and gaze at the reflection of the light in their fingernails. At the conclusion of Havdalah, the flame of the candle is extinguished in the cup of wine, or alternatively, the leftover wine is poured into a small dish and the candle is extinguished in it, as a sign that the candle was lit solely for the mitzvah of Havdalah. Based on, "the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes," some Jews dip a finger into the leftover wine and touch their eyes or pockets with it. Because it was used for a mitzvah, the wine is considered a "segulah," or good omen. After the Havdalah ceremony, it is customary to sing "Eliyahu Hanavi" and/or "HaMavdil Bein Kodesh LeChol", and to bless one another with the words Shavua' tov or Gute vokh . Havdalah is also recited at the conclusion of the following biblical holidays: Rosh Hashanah; Yom Kippur; the first days of Sukkot; Simchat Torah; Passover, both its first and last days; and Shavuot. The blessing over the wine is said, as well as the prayer separating the holy from the everyday, but not the prayers over the havdalah candle or the spices. When a major holiday follows Shabbat, the Havdalah service is recited as part of the holiday kiddush and the blessing over spices is not said. The special braided Havdalah candle is not used since it may not be extinguished after the service, but rather the blessing is recited over the festival candles. The prayer "distinguishes holiness from the everyday" is changed to "distinguishes holiness from holiness" signifying that the holiness of the holiday is of a lesser degree than the holiness of the concluded Shabbat.
Significance
Havdalah is intended to require a person to use all five senses: feel the cup, smell the spices, see the flame of the candle, hear the blessings and taste the wine. Following a normal Shabbat, the order of the prayers corresponds to the acrostic יבנ"ה Yavneh. This acrostic consists of the initials Yayin, Besamim, Ner, and Havdalah. The order of elements when Havdalah is combined with kiddush is known by the acrostic יקנה"ז Yaknhaz. This acrostic consists of the initials Yayin, Kiddush HaYom, Ner, Havdala and Zman. Near the Qaddesh section in some Ashkenazic versions of the Haggadah, there is a picture of a hunter chasing a hare. This picture is a useful mnemonic for the acrostic יקנה"ז Yaknhaz as it can be described by a Yiddish or German sentence that sounds like Yaknhaz. The Yiddish sentence יאָג 'ן האָז yog 'n hoz means "hunt a/the hare!". The colloquial German sentence Jag 'en Has' also means "hunt a/the hare!".
Blessings
The Ashkenazi liturgy for havdala after a festival or Shabbat is as follows: The text of the Havdalah service exists in two main forms, Ashkenazic and Sephardic. The introductory verses in the Ashkenazic version are taken from the biblical books of Isaiah, Psalms and Esther. In the Sephardic liturgy, the introduction begins with the words ראשון לציון, Rishon L'tsion and consists of biblical verses describing God giving light and success interspersed with later liturgical prose. The four blessings over the wine, spices candle and praising God for separation between holy and profane are virtually identical between the traditions. The phrase בין ישראל לעמים, bein Yisrael l'amim 'between Israel and the nations' is based on. In Reconstructionist Judaism, however, the phrase is omitted, as part of founder Mordechai Kaplan's rejection of the Biblical idea of chosenness. Modern tunes for Havdalah are based on melodies by Shlomo Carlebach, Neshama Carlebach and Debbie Friedman.
