From an email by Rabbi Mark (question follows):

"This year we have the unique combination where the two days of the holiday fall on Thursday & Friday leading directly into Shabbat. This will be the case this week for Rosh Hashanah and then again for Sukkot and finally for Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah. As you may know cooking is prohibited on Shabbat and while it is allowed on Festivals, it is only permitted to cook for that day, but not for the upcoming Shabbat unless you begin to cook for Shabbat before the start of the holiday and make a connection between the pre-holiday cooking and Shabbat itself; this process is called Eruv Tavshilin. The text is found in the front of a Passover Haggadah.

Here's what you do - on Wednesday before the holiday begins place two cooked items on a plate, often people will use a hardboiled egg or a piece of chicken or fish along with a baked item like a challah roll or a piece of matza. Holding the plate recite the bracha, the blessing - "Baruch Ata

Adonai, Eloheynu Melech Ha'olam, asher kideshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al mitzvat eruv." Blessed are You, Adonai our God, ruler of time and space, who instills in us the holiness of mitzvot by commanding us concerning mixtures. And then you make the following declaration: "With this eruv it shall be permissible for us to bake, cook and keep food warm, to light candles from an existing flame, and to do all things necessary on the Festival for Shabbat. This shall be permitted to us and to all Jews who live in this city." And then you set the plate aside until Shabbat when you are

permitted to eat your cooked item."

Question:

Thank you for this information but could you please expound on the below statement in the context of Conservative and not Orthodox Judaism? "...to light candles from an existing flame,..." I cannot use a match or a cigarette lighter to light my Shabbos candles?

Answer:

That is correct you should not light Shabbat candles on a chag from a match or lighter. As Conservative Jews we are prohibited from lighting a flame on Shabbat or Chagim. So on a Chag when a flame is permitted it must come from an pre-existing source; most common include a pilot light from a gas stove or a yahrzeit candle lit before chag begins