The Zohar, in Parashas Vayakhel, calls Shabbos yoma d’nishmasa — “the day of the soul.” On Shabbos, we receive an additional, special soul, and our Shabbos experience is intended to sustain and nourish this soul.

This concept is one of the reasons for the special mitzvah of candle lighting on Friday night. The Ben Ish Chai, in his Ben Yehoyada (Berachos 44b), observes that the Shabbos lights consist of three components — ner (lamp – that holds oil), petilah (wick), and shemen (oil). The first letters of these words spell the word neshamah — soul. We light candles at the outset of Shabbos because this is the day of the soul, which is compared to a candle.

Rav Tzadok HaKohen (Pokeid Akarim) adds that for this reason, our nourishment on Shabbos must come primarily from spiritual activity, rather than from our ordinary sources of physical nourishment. On Shabbos, our souls assume prominence, and we must therefore “nourish” them. And the primary source of nourishment for the soul is prayer.

The Sefer HaKuzari (Maamar 3) writes that the soul requires nourishment just as the body does, but whereas the body is nourished by food, the soul is nourished by prayer. And for this reason, we pray three times a day. When we go several hours without eating, our bodies become weak and we feel hungry; likewise, our souls become “hungry” after going several hours without prayer. Therefore, we must pray three times each day, in order to provide the soul with the “nourishment” it needs. In fact, Rav Wolbe said that he found it difficult to wait until 6 or 7 in the afternoon to daven Minchah, since he davened Shacharis early in the morning, and the break between prayers was too long. He therefore preferred praying Minchah Gedolah early in the afternoon. And just as we take small snacks during the day to satisfy our hunger, we can take spiritual “snacks” by reciting brief prayers to G-d throughout the day.

As prayer sustains the soul, and Shabbos is “the day of the soul,” prayer assumes particular importance on Shabbos, and is especially powerful on this day. Every Jewish woman knows that the time of Shabbos candle lighting is a time especially suited for prayer, when prayers have special power. As the woman lights the candles, signifying her acceptance of her special Shabbos soul, she has a unique opportunity to have her prayers answered.

A few years ago, on Tishah B’Av, I heard a remarkable story from Rav Yitzchak Scheiner (an elderly Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivas Kamenitz in Yerushalayim), which underscores the special power of prayer on Shabbos.

A man named Moshe was in the Great Synagogue in Hertzliya and saw a young, religious Jewish man who bore a striking resemblance to an old friend of his — Zalman Oren, who was among the top ministers in David Ben Gurion’s government. He approached the man and asked if he was an Oren. To his astonishment, the young man identified himself as Zalman Oren’s grandson.

“Who would have imagined that Zalman Oren would have a religiously observant grandson!” Moshe exclaimed.

The young man proceeded to tell Moshe the amazing story of how this happened. His grandmother, though she was not observant, lit candles on Friday night and covered her eyes, just as she always saw her mother do. She would also utter a prayer for her children, just as all Jewish mothers pray for their children at the time of Shabbos candle lighting. Her prayer was that she would have grandchildren who would grow to be like David Ben Gurion — a man she revered. This was the one prayer she recited, and she recited it each week when she lit candles at the onset of Shabbos. She often wondered why she would pray if she was not religiously observant, but she nevertheless followed this practice, week after week, praying for grandchildren who would grow to be like Israel’s first Prime Minister.

One day — 1 Marcheshvan, 5713 (October 20, 1952) — her husband, a member of Ben Gurion’s cabinet and his closest aid, who always spoke of the Prime Minister with great reverence, returned home with a look of wonder and fascination on his face. He told his wife that Ben Gurion had that day gone to Bnei Brak and met with the Chazon Ish (Rav Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz).

“I do not have words to describe how he was affected by that meeting,” Mr. Oren said. Ben Gurion was always very calm and collected, he noted, but he was visibly moved and excited after his meeting with the Chazon Ish. He could not stop talking about him, and he even said, “If I had not seen him myself, I would never have believed that such people exist.” Mr. Oren and his family spoke about this incident for the next several days, and this had a profound impact upon his wife.

The next Friday, she thought to herself, “If Ben Gurion thinks so highly of this man, then he must be someone special!” And so when she lit the Shabbos candles, the prayer she offered was different from the prayer she had been reciting every previous Friday. She prayed, “Master of the universe, may it be Your will that my descendants follow the example of Rabbi Karelitz. If Ben Gurion is impressed by him, he must be a very great person.”

Every Friday henceforth, a tear formed in the corners of her eyes as she prayed for her descendants to be like the Chazon Ish.

Eventually, the short but heartfelt prayer bore fruit, and her grandson, whom Moshe spotted in that synagogue in Hertzliya, was following the example of the Chazon Ish.

“My grandmother’s prayer was a very simple prayer. She was not a great rabbi, or the wife of a great rabbi. Yet, her prayer was answered — and she now has a Torah-observant grandson.”

This is the power of a tzaddik, and this is the power of a Shabbos prayer.

When Rav Scheiner told this story, he added that he was raised in a Shabbos-observant family in Pittsburgh, but he received no Torah education. He attended public school for both elementary school and high school, and, in his words, “Hashem took me to the moon and back to get me to yeshivah.” He attributes his improbable emergence as a Torah scholar to his mother’s tearful prayers when she lit the Shabbos candles, in which she pleaded to Hashem that her only son should remain loyal to Judaism. “I am a ben Torah because of those tears,” he said.

Rav Wolbe, in his introduction to “Alei Shur,” writes that he chose the name Alei Shur for his work because it has the same gematria as “ner nishmas” (a candle for the soul) and his mother’s name, Raza Rivkah. It was only because of her dedication and self-sacrifice, Rav Wolbe said, that he became the person he was. I recall hearing Rav Wolbe reminisce about watching his mother pray for him when she lit the Shabbos candles on Friday night, a sight that left a deep impression on him. He did not have what we would consider today a strong Torah background, growing up in prewar Germany, but he attributes his achievements to his mother’s heartfelt Shabbos prayers.

A parent’s prayers for his or her children are always significant and powerful, but on Shabbos, the yoma d’nishmasa, day of the soul, these prayers are especially potent. On this day, when we are endowed with a special soul, we are to nourish it with our prayers for spiritual greatness, and these prayers are laden with special power.

Let us make sure to “feed” our souls on Shabbos with the “food” of prayer. And the more kavannah we have when we pray, the stronger and more radiant our souls will be.

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Reprinted from Embrace Shabbos by Rabbi David Sutton with permission from ArtScroll Mesorah.