Always in Season: Duvid Weiss

Name: Duvid Weiss

Position: I’ve done everything from accounts to working in the warehouse. I also came out with the kids’ hotline and the Izzy and Dizzy characters. Right now, I’m working in marketing and graphics

Business name: Ner Mitzvah, a company that manufactures and produces Chanukah and year-round candles as well as hundreds of other specialty and seasonal items

Busy season: The craziness really starts in Cheshvan because all the stores and supermarkets want their orders to hit the shelves by Rosh Chodesh Kislev. Then after Chanukah, all the grocery stores order refills on their regular Shabbos and yahrtzeit candles, their year-round supplies, and we’re busy with that for another month or two

Location: Bayonne, New Jersey

Years in business: Ner Mitzvah started in 1965. I joined the company six years ago

How did you get started?

One of the company’s first items was the famous bedikas chometz sets. Mr. Lauber, the company’s owner, had some connections to a slaughterhouse. He picked up bags of feathers and he and his kids cleaned them in the bathtub. Then they packaged them with wooden spoons and dipped candles he’d made himself.

Once he got the hang of dipping candles, he started making Havdalah candles and soon expanded to other candle options, and all the wicks and oils associated with Chanukah. Now the company’s considered the King of Chanukah — we produce around 900 Chanukah related items.

When do you start preparing?

We start right after Chanukah. We’re always getting oil samples from companies around the world, and we need to test how well they’ll burn with the wicks. Then we need to put in orders and start bottling the oil once it arrives.

For the candles, obviously, we need wax. We search bee farms around the world for the perfect color and quality beeswax, and once it’s delivered, we produce the actual candles on site. We have about 25 workers dipping candles and bottling the oil by the middle of the summer. When everyone else is in the country, we’re busy making thousands of beeswax shamashim.