This article examines the candle-lighting ritual repertoire of Middle-Eastern Jews in Israel. It is demonstrated that the men's rituals sanctify and symbolically manipulate sacred time and space, whereas the women's rituals sanctify and symbolically manipulate personal relationships. Traditional Middle-Eastern Jewish culture is highly sexually segregated, with men and women expressing different values and concerns. It is suggested that the ways in which women and men ritually use and interpret candles help mediate male and female existential modes. (Susan Starr Sered)