By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.
EL CAJON, California — Good Shabbos, and Shabbasgiving sameach.
As we come together the night after Thanksgiving, it’s meaningful to reflect on how beautifully the themes of the holiday align with this week’s parsha, Vayeitzei, and with the essence of Shabbos itself.
In Vayeitzei, Yaakov Avinu leaves home under difficult circumstances. He lies down alone in the wilderness, and in that vulnerable moment he receives the famous vision of the ladder, rooted on earth, reaching up to heaven. When he awakens, he declares: “Achen yesh Hashem bamakom hazeh, va’anochi lo yadati—Surely Hashem is in this place, and I did not know.”
The commentaries and Chassidic teachings say that Yaakov’s revelation is about awareness. God’s presence was there all along; Yaakov simply hadn’t noticed. Sometimes life moves so quickly that blessings surround us, yet we pass them by without recognizing them.
Shabbos, and certainly Shabbasgiving, invites us to stop, breathe, and notice.
There’s something else profound in the parsha. Before Yaakov continues his journey, he takes the stone he slept on and stands it up as a matzevah. The Rebbe explains that Yaakov takes something ordinary, literally a stone, and elevates it, transforming it into a marker of gratitude. Gratitude in Judaism isn’t just acknowledging miracles; it’s sanctifying the ordinary. It’s seeing Hashem not only in dramatic moments, but in the everyday gifts we often take for granted.
That is the essence of hakaras hatov, the Jewish way of gratitude: not a once-a-year feeling, but a constant spiritual practice. And that connects deeply to Shabbos. Every Friday night we thank Hashem for creation, for life, for community, for the ability to stop and simply be. Shabbos trains us, week after week, to live in a posture of gratitude.
At a table with friends, community, Torah, Shabbos warmth, we can say, perhaps more consciously than usual: “Hashem is in this place, and sometimes we forget.” But tonight we remember.
May this Shabbasgiving strengthen our ability to see the blessings in our lives, to elevate the “stones” of the everyday, and to recognize Hashem’s presence in our journeys—just as Yaakov did. And may that awareness open the door to even greater bracha in the week ahead.
Good Shabbos.
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Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly D’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family are members. They are also active members of Congregation Adat Yeshurun.