Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
And Jacob uttered a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and He will guard me on this way, upon which I am going, and He will give me bread to eat and a garment to wear.” (Genesis 28:20)
Chani Weinroth, of blessed memory, in her book “Shabbat Shalom Chani,” commented on the verse above as follows: “This is not just about making do with little, with bread and a garment alone. Yaakov emphasizes ‘bread to eat and a garment to wear.’ Isn’t it obvious that bread is meant to eat and a garment is meant to wear? But this is not always possible. What if someone has 1000 pieces of clothing in his closet but he is hospitalized and can only wear hospital pajamas? What if someone has all the food in the world but suffers from nausea after medical treatment, how is that food of any benefit to him? What Yaakov is actually saying is this: ‘Bless me with bread to eat and a garment to wear.’ It’s a call to be blessed with the ability to notice and to value what you have. You should never take for granted that just because you have bread, you can eat it or just because you have clothes, you can wear them. There are people who have everything, including good health, but feel they have nothing. To see what you have and to be able to enjoy and appreciate it – that is the blessing Yaakov desires.”
