The stairs on Fourth Street

Parashat Vayetzeiויצא

Ask for a seat on Nov 20 Open the presentation

Date: Friday, November 20, 2026
Candle-lighting: 4:29 pm
Havdalah, Saturday: 5:27 pm
Where: Santa Monica

The ten Fridays

Fridays, October 16 to December 18.

The story

Jacob stopped because the sun had set. On November 20 it sets at 4:48 pm, and we stop too.

In Vayetzei, Jacob leaves home with almost nothing. The sun sets, so he stops where he is and sleeps with a stone under his head. He dreams of a stairway with its feet on the ground and its top in the sky, and angels going up and down it. He wakes and says: surely this place is holy, and I did not know it.

Santa Monica has its own stairway. On any weekday morning, people climb up and down the public stairs at Fourth Street and Adelaide Drive, most of them watching their feet. A few blocks south, people stop along Palisades Park to watch the sun go into the bay. On November 20 the sun sets at 4:48 pm. Candles are lit about 18 minutes before, at 4:29 pm.

The sixth Friday has one request. Bring one place in this city where you stopped and noticed something you had walked past for years. We write each place on a card and lay the cards end to end down the table, like rungs. If work keeps you past 4:29 pm, come anyway. The candles will be burning, your seat will be held, and kiddush waits until 5:10 pm.

This Friday's theme

Jacob's stairway, and noticing the place where you already stand

Candles at 4:29 pm. Come when work lets you.

This Friday falls on a workday and the sun sets early. Here is what we will do, so you can plan your evening and hold us to it.

The host lights the candles at 4:29 pm with whoever is in the room, and does not wait.
Anyone who arrives after candles is greeted at the door and seated within 5 minutes.
Kiddush and challah wait until 5:10 pm, so guests coming from work are there for them.
Each blessing is explained in a sentence or two before it is said.
Every guest who brings a place has it read out and laid on the table.
Dinner ends at 7:29 pm, 3 hours after candle-lighting.

What to count on

Candles are lit at 4:29 pm on Friday, November 20. Havdalah is at 5:27 pm on Saturday.

Hebcal times for Santa Monica, checked on October 9, 2026.
The sun sets at 4:48 pm that evening.

Hebcal for Santa Monica lists sunset at 4:48 pm on November 20, 2026. Hebcal sets candle-lighting 18 minutes before sunset and rounds each time to the minute. Checked on October 9, 2026.
Twenty-four seats at one table.

Capacity is set in the invitation. The seating plan is finished on November 18, after RSVPs close.
Guests coming from work are seated in time for kiddush and challah.

Kiddush is set for 5:10 pm in the agenda and on the crew run sheet, 41 minutes after candles. The candle blessing itself happens at 4:29 pm and does not wait.
We post the numbers after every Friday.

Dinners 1 to 5 come before this one. Their head counts are posted after each Friday. None are quoted here, because none existed when this page was written.
The partners on this page are examples.

No business is named until it applies and is approved. Until then each partner in the guest and partner briefings is described by what it is and where, and marked illustrative.

Press

Awaiting approval

Sixth Shabbat dinner of Fridays takes Jacob's stairway as its theme

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 13, 2026

The full release opens once it is approved and the embargo has passed.

Friday 6 of 10

Come to Friday 6, Nov 20.

Candles at 4:29 pm. Ask for a seat and you hear back within 2 days; the address goes to confirmed guests 48 hours before.

Ask for a seat on Nov 20 Or partner this Friday