Image: Jane Sherman
“Death can be such an opening,” says jonah aline daniel, who founded Narrow Bridge Candles not long after their father passed away. “It opened up this space, identifying a specific thing that I could do that tells a different story.”
Traditionally, Jewish people light Yahrzeit candles in memory of the dead, a special candle in a glass jar designed to burn from sundown to sundown on the anniversary of a death. When their father died in 2009, daniel was exploring Jewish spiritual and cultural life while being involved with Jewish anti-Zionist organizations that supported the Palestinian call for boycotting Israel-made products—but they could only find Yahrzeit candles made there. “In that moment, it was devastating to not have a choice aligned with what I care about,” says daniel, so they created Narrow Bridge to support that boycott.
At the chandlery in Union, daniel (who styles their name in all lowercase) makes 100 percent beeswax candles for Jewish rituals: thick Shabbat candles, thinner tapers for Hanukkah, and braided ones for Havdalah (the end of Shabbat). And, of course, a Yahrzeit candle, which includes a small amount of coconut wax to lower the melting point so it burns reliably and safely for the full day.
Image: Jane Sherman
The company name comes from a saying attributed to a charismatic rabbi from the late 1700s, that the whole world is a very narrow bridge, “and the important thing is to not be afraid.” But Judaism encourages interpretation, and daniel found their own meaning in it: “We must feel our fears, we must face our fears, and we must cross the bridge.”
Narrow Bridge’s Yahrzeit candle can be used to memorialize losses beyond the individual, extending to collective loss like synagogue and mosque attacks or mass shootings. “That’s what this candle is for: honoring grief and loss and ancestor connection and commemoration,” says daniel, “but without a rigid prescription about exactly what that looks like.”
Published in the The Innovation Issue issue of Seattle Met.
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