The Havdalah Set: Candle, Spice Box, and Cup

Separating Holy from Ordinary

As Shabbat ends on Saturday night, Jews perform a brief, beautiful ceremony called Havdalah — “separation.” With wine, fire, and fragrance, we mark the boundary between the holiness of Shabbat and the ordinariness of the new week. The ceremony uses three distinct ritual objects — a cup of wine, a braided candle, and a spice box — that together form the Havdalah set, one of the most artistically diverse categories of Judaica.

Havdalah is sensory in a way that few Jewish rituals are. You taste the wine, see the flame, smell the spices, and feel the warmth of the fire on your fingertips. Each sense carries meaning. Each object in the set serves a purpose.

The Three Objects

The Wine Cup

Like Kiddush at Shabbat’s beginning, Havdalah begins and ends with wine. The cup is filled to overflowing — symbolizing the hope for a week filled with blessings. The first blessing is recited over the wine, and after all four Havdalah blessings are complete, the wine is drunk.

Many families use the same kiddush cup for Havdalah. Others have a separate Havdalah cup, sometimes with a saucer to catch the overflow. A common custom is to extinguish the Havdalah candle in the wine that spills onto the saucer — a dramatic moment that children love.

The Spice Box (Besamim)

The spice box holds fragrant spices — traditionally cloves, cinnamon, or a blend of aromatic spices. The blessing over spices (borei minei besamim — “who creates various kinds of spices”) is recited, and the spice box is passed around for everyone to smell.

Why spices? The Talmud explains that on Shabbat, each person receives a neshamah yeteirah — an additional soul. When Shabbat ends and this extra soul departs, the fragrance of spices revives and comforts the regular soul. It is a poetic, tender explanation: we are diminished when Shabbat leaves, and the spices offer consolation.

Spice box varieties:

Spice boxes come in extraordinary artistic variety:

• Tower form: The classic Ashkenazi design — a silver tower with a pointed top, often resembling a medieval turret, with small doors or windows and a flag on top. This form dates to at least the 16th century.
• Fish or animal shapes: Spice boxes shaped like fish, birds, or other creatures
• Fruit shapes: Pomegranates, etrogim, and apples
• Simple bags: Some Sephardic communities use a cloth bag filled with spices rather than a hard container
• Modern designs: Contemporary artists create spice boxes in glass, ceramic, wood, and unconventional metals

The Braided Candle

The Havdalah candle is not an ordinary candle. It has multiple wicks — traditionally at least two, usually braided together — creating a flame that is technically a torch (avukah) rather than a single candle (ner). The blessing (borei me’orei ha-esh — “who creates the lights of fire”) uses the plural “lights,” requiring multiple flames joined together.

The braided Havdalah candle is usually blue and white (though colors vary) and is tall enough to last through the ceremony. The multi-wick flame is bright and dramatic, casting flickering light over the faces gathered around it.

The symbolism of fire: Fire represents human creativity — the ability to transform the world. The first thing Adam did after Shabbat ended was to discover fire (according to a midrash). By lighting fire at Havdalah, we symbolically re-enter the creative week, picking up the tools of human labor that we set down for Shabbat.

The fingernails custom: During the candle blessing, there is a custom to hold one’s hands up to the candle’s flame and look at the light reflected in one’s fingernails. This serves as a practical use of the fire’s light (since the blessing should be recited only over fire from which one derives benefit) and also symbolizes the boundary between light and shadow — between the holy and the mundane.

The Havdalah Ceremony

When and How

Havdalah is performed after three stars are visible in the Saturday evening sky — approximately 42 to 72 minutes after sunset, depending on location and custom. The lights are dimmed. The family gathers.

The four blessings:

1. Wine (borei pri ha-gafen): Over the cup of wine
2. Spices (borei minei besamim): Over the fragrant spices
3. Fire (borei me’orei ha-esh): Over the braided candle
4. Separation (hamavdil bein kodesh l’chol): The main Havdalah blessing, praising God who “separates between holy and ordinary, between light and darkness, between Israel and the nations, between the seventh day and the six days of labor”

After the fourth blessing, the leader drinks the wine. The candle is extinguished — often dramatically, by plunging it into the wine on the saucer. The room fills with the sizzle and the scent of extinguished wick.

Songs and Customs

Many families sing “Eliyahu HaNavi” (Elijah the Prophet) after Havdalah, expressing the hope that the prophet Elijah will herald the Messiah in the coming week. Other songs include “HaMavdil” and “Shavua Tov” (A Good Week).

Some communities dip their fingers in the spilled wine and touch it to their eyelids or pockets — symbolizing the hope that the coming week will be blessed with insight and prosperity.

Collecting Havdalah Sets

Havdalah sets are among the most collected forms of Judaica. Because the set involves three distinct objects — each with its own form and function — it offers artists tremendous creative range. Sets range from simple and functional (a plain cup, a clove-filled orange pierced with a candle) to museum-quality silver ensembles.

Popular materials include sterling silver, pewter, brass, glass, ceramic, olive wood, and mixed media. Israeli and European artists have created Havdalah sets that are works of art, collected by museums and private collectors alike.

A Weekly Farewell

Havdalah is bittersweet. Shabbat — the island of peace in a week of labor — is ending. The extra soul is departing. The ordinary world, with its demands and complications, is returning. The ceremony acknowledges this transition honestly: through wine (comfort), fire (creativity), and spices (consolation), we say goodbye to the sacred and step back into the work of living.

But Havdalah also carries hope. “Shavua tov” — may it be a good week. And next Friday, Shabbat will return.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I do not have a spice box? Any fragrant spice will work. Fresh rosemary, a cinnamon stick, whole cloves, or even a fragrant flower can substitute. The key is a pleasant, natural fragrance over which the blessing can be recited.

Can I use a regular candle for Havdalah? The blessing requires multiple flames. If you do not have a braided candle, hold two regular candles close together so their flames touch and merge. This creates the required avukah (torch). Birthday candles held together work in a pinch.

What if I miss Havdalah on Saturday night? Havdalah can be recited until Tuesday evening (sunset), according to most authorities, though the spices and candle blessings are omitted after Saturday night. Only the wine and the Havdalah separation blessing are recited. However, performing Havdalah on Saturday night — as close to the end of Shabbat as possible — is the ideal practice.