What is Ner Echad

Ner Echad is a global movement uniting Jewish women in Shabbos & Yom Tov candles, tefillah (prayer), tzedakah (charity), chesed (acts of loving-kindness), and self improvement. Acting as one, we magnify the awesome spiritual power of our sacred deeds, bringing light and blessing into the world, and protection for ourselves, our families, and the entire Jewish people.

Who is Ner Echad

You are Ner Echad. We are all Ner Echad. Jewish women helping Jewish women around the globe. As members of Ner Echad we welcome Shabbos and Yom Tov together, lighting candles while praying for family, friends, and each other. We contribute one dollar every Friday and erev Yom Tov at candle-lighting time in Jerusalem to the Batsheva Kanievsky Widow and Children Fund. We come together in a variety of groups to accomplish good deeds as a collective. Our achdus (unity) is a source of blessing and strength to to all the women of Ner Echad, to our families and friends, and to Jews around the world.

    When Rebbetzin Kanievsky passed away suddenly in 2011, it was as if the sun had set and its dazzling light inexplicably extinguished. The world had suffered a terrible loss. It seemed that the immense void created by her passing would never be filled. The Ner Echad movement was created to attempt to fill the void by carrying on the Rebbetzin's hallowed lifework, bringing together Jewish women from around the world in mitzvos and countless united deeds of loving-kindness.

 

    "Never before in the history of the Jewish people have thousands of women joined together week after week as Ner Echad.  Ner Echad is a colossal force that will certainly generate a wellspring of spiritual and material blessing, and create an enormous protective shield for the entire Jewish nation." - Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky-

INFINITE IMPACT

GLOBAL UNITY. Our sages have recognized the decisive role that women, as individuals as well as a collective, have always played in the history of the Jewish Nation. The Ner Echad Global Network enables you to connect with women around the world, through candle-lighting, selfless prayer, charity, and through many other meaningful group activities. Members are able to share advice, experiences, encouragement, insights, and join in discussing important issues affecting their families. When we pool our collective strengths we can certainly affect positive change in ourselves and the entire world.

ONE DOLLAR

GIVING TOGETHER. For millennia, candle lighting has been accompanied by a small charitable gift to the needy, a sacred custom. Tzedakah (Charity) intensifies the impact of the remarkable mitzvah of lighting candles in honor of Shabbos and Yom Tov, and it lends additional strength and elevation to the prayers which we offer at this most heightened spiritual moment. Ner Echad’s innovative system enables its members around the world to participate with an affordable charitable gift, a single dollar — taking place automatically, all at the exact same moment. 100% of every dollar goes to the Batsheva Kanievsky Widow & Children Fund.

Give • Light • Unite

TWO CANDLES

LIGHTING & PRAYING TOGETHER. Our sages teach that performing a mitzvah as an individual cannot compare to a mitzvah performed as a collective. When thousands of us join together every Friday before sunset to light Shabbos candles, give charity, and pray for one another, synchronized to take place all at once, the power of this achdus/unity causes each individual mitzvah and prayer to be amplified exponentially a thousandfold. This powerful show of solidarity, generates a massive wellspring of blessing and protective light for ourselves, our families, and the entire Jewish people the world over.

Giving tzedakah together as one

No risk of forgetting to give tzedakah before lighting candles. No need to run around at the last minute hunting for coins to put in the tzedakah box at candle-lighting time. Each Ner Echad member’s credit card will automatically be charged one dollar every erev Shabbos and erev Yom Tov at candle-lighting time in Jerusalem, the spiritual center of our world. One hundred percent of the money goes to the Batsheva Kanievsky Widow and Children Fund, and is collected at the same moment, creating one enormous, powerful, unified act of tzedakah! Rebbetzin Leah Kolodetsky, daughter of Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky, working closely with her father Rav Chaim and a specially appointed Ner Echad Beis Din, oversees the distribution of these funds to Israel’s most distressed women and children.

Receiving Friday candle-lighting alerts

No woman wishes to miss even one Shabbos candle lighting. Keeping in mind the proper time for this weekly mitzvah is sometimes a daunting task. On Friday afternoons and before Jewish holidays, every Ner Echad member will receive a timely alert via e-mail, text, or phone, informing her of candle-lighting time in her zip code.

Praying for each other at candle-lighting

Our sages extol the virtues of one Jew praying for another Jew in distress. It is a time-tested segula to facilitate one's own prayers being speedily answered. Rava said to Rabbah bar Mari: From where in the Torah can be derived the lesson taught by our Rabbis that one who solicits mercy for his fellow while he himself is in need of the same thing will be answered first? He replied, It is written (Iyov 17:10) “And G-d changed the fortune of Iyov when he prayed for his friends”. Raba said said to him: "I say it is from this text: (Genesis 20:17) “And Abraham prayed unto G-d, and G-d healed Avimelech and his wife and his maidservants”. The verse Immediately after this says: “And G-d remembered Sarah… etc”. (Talmud Bavli, Babba Kamma 92a) The most opportune time to offer personal prayers on behalf of family and friends is at candle-lighting. Women supporting women is the hallmark of Ner Echad. Each week, Ner Echad members receive the name of a fellow member to include in their prayers.

Ner Echad Network

Ner Echad members enjoy a vast array of benefits. Connect with women across the continent and around the world. Find someone with the same need as you: pray for one another, and share experiences, encouragement and advice. Participate in Ner Echad events in your community. Launch or join a group in honor or in memory of someone special in your life, or to give merit for someone in distress or need. Reach out to your sisters around the world and connect!

LIGHTING UP
THE WORLD ...
TOGETHER!

ARE YOU READY?


Before beginning Kiddush, Birchas Hamazon, or Havdalah, Rav Chaim Kanievsky would always ask his beloved wife, Batsheva, "Ima, at muchanah?" “Mother, are you ready?” He would not recite the blessing over wine, Grace after meals, or the prayer marking the separation between Shabbos and the new week until she responded "Yes! I am ready"! With Rebbetzin Kanievsky’s sudden passing, the light and blessing her unique personality brought to the world was extinguished. It is up to us to carry on the rebbetzin’s extraordinary efforts to unite women worldwide in mitzvos and acts of loving-kindness. Let's all be ready when we are asked:

AT MUCHANAH?
ARE YOU READY ...
TO LIGHT UP THE WORLD?