In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “rabbinically mandated law in judaism”. Today it says “candles t candles is a rabbinically mandated law”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Shabbat A Jewish woman reciting the blessing over Shabbat candles while covering her eyes ( Ma'ale Adumim , 2011) Shabbat candles Lighting the Sabbath lamp (1657) Shabbat candles ( Hebrew : נרות שבת ) are candles lit on Friday evening before sunset to usher in the Jewish Sabbath . Lighting Shabbat candles is a rabbinically mandated law. Candle-lighting is traditionally done by the woman of the household, but every Jew is obligated to either light or ensure that candles are lit on their behalf. In Yiddish , lighting the candles is known as licht bentschen ("light-blessing") or licht tsinden ("light-kindling").
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1288833968.
The opening as it stood in 2010
A Sterling Silver Candlestick set cup used for Shabbat Candles by Hadad Silver An example of a bronze Shabbat candlestick holder made in Palestine in the 1940s Lighting Shabbat candles ( ) is a rabbinically mandated law in Judaism. Two candles or more are lit on Friday evening, 18 minutes before sundown, to welcome Shabbat . Candlelighting is traditionally done by the woman of the household, though in the absence of a woman, it is done by a man. After lighting the candles, the woman waves her hands over them, covers her eyes, and recites a blessing.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 362423126.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Shabbat candles Shabbat candles ( ) are candles lit on Friday evening before sunset to usher in the Jewish Sabbath . Lighting Shabbat candles is a rabbinically mandated law. Candlelighting is traditionally done by the woman of the household, but in the absence of a woman, it can be done by a man. After lighting the candles, the woman waves her hands over them, covers her eyes, and recites a blessing.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 661860214.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Candles lit on Friday evening to usher in Shabbat Shabbat candles Shabbat candles ( ) are candles lit on Friday evening before sunset to usher in the Jewish Sabbath . Lighting Shabbat candles is a rabbinically mandated law. Candlelighting is traditionally done by the woman of the household, but in the absence of a woman, it is done by a man. After lighting the candles, the woman moves her hands over the candles and towards her (as if bringing in or guiding in the Sabbath); she then covers her eyes and recites a blessing.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 956689022.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Candles lit on Friday evening to usher in Shabbat A Jewish woman reciting the blessing over Shabbat candles while covering her eyes ( Ma'ale Adumim , 2011) Shabbat candles Lighting the Sabbath lamp (1657) Shabbat candles ( ) are candles lit on Friday evening before sunset to usher in the Jewish Sabbath . Lighting Shabbat candles is a rabbinically mandated law. Candle-lighting is traditionally done by the woman of the household but, in the absence of a woman, it is done by a man. After lighting the candles, the lighter covers their eyes and recites a blessing.In Yiddish , lighting the candles is known as licht bentschen ("light-blessing") or licht tsinden ("light-kindling").
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178682070.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “rabbinically mandated law in judaism”. Today it says “candles t candles is a rabbinically mandated law”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
rabbinically mandated law in judaism
Now
candles t candles is a rabbinically mandated law
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
