Number of Shabbat Candles

How many Shabbos candles should a woman light? If a married woman with three children always lit five candles can she light one more?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question!

The Talmud tells us that only one candle is truly needed in order to fulfill the mitzva of the Shabbat lights. (Shabbat 23b, 25b). This is also the ruling of the Rambam (The Laws of Shabbat 5:1).

Indeed, the later sages emphasize that one who cannot afford to purchase all the Shabbat necessities should only purchase one candle to light for Shabbat so that one will be able to afford wine and other Shabbat necessities. (Magen Avraham)

But as you correctly note, lighting more than one candle has certainly become the norm in Jewish homes. This was true in the Talmudic era as well, as it says (Shabbat 23b) that many sages lit many candles in honor of Shabbat.

Lighting two Shabbat candles is the most common minimum number of candles to light and this is said to represent the two aspects of Shabbat observance “shamor” ("to guard the Shabbat") and “zachor” ("to remember the Shabbat") (Beit Yosef 263, Tur 263, and OC 263)

The Talmud tells us that one who is careful to light Shabbat candles will be rewarded with children who are scholars. This is related to the teaching that a soul is compared to a candle, as it says, “The candle of God is the soul of man.” Based on this soul-candle comparison, there is a widespread custom that, in addition to the two primary candles that are lit, one adds a candle for every child in the family. This appears to be your practice.

That being said, there are legitimate customs to light 7 candles, corresponding to the 7 days of the week and 10 candles, corresponding to the Ten Commandments. There would be nothing wrong with adopting these customs, but one must be consistent and light the same number of candles each week. However, considering that you are currently following the most widespread custom, I do not recommend that you add candles to the number you are currently lighting. Your current custom is a good one.

Additional sources include: OC 264:7; Likutei Maharich, Ravya 199; Kol Bo 24 and others.