Dvar Torah Shabbat Vayera: Hachnasat Orchim Begins at Home

The following is an excerpt of a d'var Torah presented by Ohr Kodesh Board member Ellen Elow-Mintz.  Consider fulfilling some of your Pledge 25 hours by extending hospitality to fellow congregants and guests.

Long before Sinai and the handing down of the commandments, Parshat Vayera lays out two fundamental mitzvot that help define g’milut hasidim, acts of lovingkindness, and God’s day-in-day out expectations of the Jewish people.  God appears as Avraham is recovering from his circumcision, modeling for us the importance of bikkur holim, visiting the sick. In the midst of this visit, Avraham notices the approach of three men and redirects his attention from God to welcome and attend to these visitors. Rather than taking Avraham to task for looking away from God, the rabbis teach that hospitality to others, hachnasat orchim, is greater than welcoming the Divine Presence. In welcoming strangers we are doing God’s will and if we were to focus solely on God we would be ignoring those in need. In the context of a synagogue community, hachnasat orchim should mean more than recognizing and welcoming those who are visiting from the outside.  Despite sitting in the same “Shabbat neighborhood” each week, we often have forgotten or never learned the names of our neighbors.  Please take a moment and look around your neighborhood and identify one or two people whose names you may have forgotten.  During kiddush, please make a point to go up and ask his or her name and provide yours.

Dr. Erica Brown, of the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning, has proposed that local synagogues expand this idea of hospitality and consider this Shabbat, and Parshat Vayera annually, as Shabbat Orechim.  Members are asked to invite others in the congregation they have never hosted for a meal on this Shabbat.

Using the concept of Shabbat Orechim to guide us, we can strengthen our community by reaching out to those outside our familiar circle.  The sense of community created around the Shabbat table anchors us and comforts us in good times and bad. Consider making a commitment to yourself and to the Ohr Kodesh community to invite someone new to celebrate Shabbat with you once a year, or once a month, or whenever the mood strikes you. While we joke that no Jewish activity can occur without food, it is true that Jewish continuity can be found around the Shabbat table – in the company, the song, the learning and, yes, the food. 
Let’s take our cue from Avraham and open our homes, and share the best of what we have with others.  In doing so we will enrich our lives and continue to make Ohr Kodesh a kehillat kodesh, a holy community.