By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
SAN DIEGO — Rabbis are fond of telling couples they are marrying that the chuppah beneath which they stand resembles Avraham Avinu’s tent. How so? Just as the chuppah is open on all four sides, so was Avraham’s tent. Avraham’s tent was open on all four sides to welcome guests from whichever direction they came. So should a married couple’s home be similarly open to family and friends. Hachnasat orchim (welcoming guests) is one of the most important mitzvot a Jew can perform.
Our sages saw further evidence of Avraham’s hospitality in the verse: “[Abraham] planted a tamarisk (Heb.eishel) at Beer-sheba, and invoked there the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.” (Gen. 21:33)
The sages said that the Hebrew word for a tamarisk tree, eishel, could be interpreted midrashically as an anagram. Each of the Hebrew letters of eishel: aleph, shin, and lamed, can stand for an additional Hebrew word: achilah, shtiyah, and lina – eating, drinking, and sleeping. In other words, what Abraham really established at Beer-sheba was an inn for wayfarers! Abraham was so concerned with making visitors feel comfortable that he built them a hotel.
Abraham, of course, did not charge his guests. That would have spoiled the mitzvah! He, however, did use their stay as an opportunity to teach them about God and God’s beneficence. After his guests had finished their meal Abraham would say to them: “Now that we are full, let us give thanks!” When his guests began to thank him for his hospitality Abraham stopped them and said: “No. We need to give thanks to the One who created the heavens and the earth, and has blessed us with rain for our crops and good things to eat.” Whereupon he would lead them in a rousing rendition of Birkat HaMazon, the Blessing after Meals.
Did Abraham have ulterior motives for welcoming guests? Was his real intent to convert them to Judaism? Certainly not. But he did use the opportunity to put his best foot forward to show his guests what it means to be a man of faith.
We often have non-Jewish visitors to the synagogue. Sometimes they are here for a class they are taking, sometimes as a guest for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah or wedding, and other times just out of curiosity. We always welcome them with open arms. Should we attempt to proselytize them and try to get them to convert to Judaism? Certainly not! But we do have an obligation to be on our best behavior and show them through our words and deeds what it means to adhere to a religion that revolves around love of God and love of God’s creation.
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Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego