Offering Hospitality Acknowledges the Godliness of the Other

The interpretation of a single word determines how one is to read Beraishit 18, with which the Parashat HaShavua begins.

In R. Jonathan Sacks’ 2019 essay for Parashat VaYeira, “God and Strangers” (God and Strangers (Vayera 5779) – Rabbi Sacks) he proposes that the text in Beraishit 18 can be viewed in three different ways:

a) Three separate scenes:

1) Ibid. 18:1 A Divine Revelation to Avraham.

2) Ibid. 2-16 Interactions between Avraham and the angels.

3) Ibid. 17-33 Avraham and God Discuss Pardoning the residents of Sodom and its satellites.

b) Two scenes:

1) Ibid. 1-16 Avraham’s interactions with the angels is introduced by an overview in v. 1.

2) Ibid. 17-33 The discussion regarding pardoning the Sodomites.

c) One scene

1) 1-33 After an initial Revelation, Avraham asks HaShem to wait while he deals with his guests. Then, when their needs have been taken care of, Avraham and God discuss what is to happen in  Sodom.

R. Sacks contends that the different understandings of Beraishit 18 could be said to revolve around the interpretation of a particular word in v. 3:

Ibid. 3

And (Avraham) said: “A-d-o-n-a-i” (My LORD/lord,) if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.

Essentially, the interpretive question, according to R. Sacks, is whether this word is “Kodesh” (Holy; a reference to God, mentioned explicitly in the previous verse) or “Chol” (non-Holy; a reference to one of the “visitors,” referred to in this and the ensuing verses.)

(These two possibilities are spelled out in the Talmud:

Shavuot 35b

…All names that could be understood as the Name of God that are stated in the Tora with regard to Avraham, are sacred and are referring to God, except for this name, which is non-sacred, as it is stated: “My lords, if I have found favor in your eyes.”

Chanina, son of the brother of Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya in the name of Rabbi Elazar HaModa’i, say: This too is sacred… )

R. Sacks contends that Jewish tradition favors the latter position in Shavuot 35b, i.e., that the word is Kodesh, and therefore represents the “radical” concept (possibility c) above) that Avraham actually asked God to wait for him to return, so that he could see to the needs of some random travelers.

The assumption that offering hospitality to those in need is greater than receiving Divine Revelation is recorded in the Talmud.

Shabbat 127a makes this very claim:

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Hospitality toward guests is greater than receiving the Divine Presence, as when Avraham invited his guests it is written: “And he said: “A-d-o-n-a-i”, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.” Avraham requested that God, the Divine Presence, Wait for him while he tended to his guests appropriately.

Rabbi Elazar said: Come and see that the Attribute of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Is not like that of flesh and blood. The attribute of flesh and blood people is such that a less significant person is unable to say to a more significant person: Wait until I come to you, while with regard to the Holy One, Blessed Be He, it is written: “And he said: “A-d-o-n-a-i”, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.” Abraham requested that God Wait for him due to his guests.

Only by appreciating the humanity and therefore Godliness, inherent within the stranger, allows man to aspire to personal Godliness himself.

R. Sacks understands the Talmud’s observation within the context of the idolatrous world in which Avraham lived:

…The idolaters of Avraham’s time worshipped the sun, the stars, and the forces of nature as gods. They worshipped power and the powerful. Avraham knew, however, that God Is not in nature but beyond nature. There is only one thing in the universe on which He has set His image: the human person, every person, powerful and powerless alike.

The forces of nature are impersonal, which is why those who worship them eventually lose their humanity. As the book of Tehillim (115:4-8) puts it:

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak; eyes, but cannot see; They have ears, but cannot hear; nostrils but cannot smell…

They that make them, become like them, and so do all who put their trust in them. 

One cannot worship impersonal forces and remain a person; compassionate, humane, generous, forgiving. Precisely because we believe that God Is Personal, Someone to Whom we can say “You,” we honor human dignity as sacrosanct…

(Avraham) knew that serving God and offering hospitality to strangers were not two things, but one (and the same).

An interpretation that ratifies this “radical” idea.

R. Sacks concludes his essay with an interpretation of R. Shalom of Belz (Sholom Rokeach – Wikipedia) (Dover Shalom, cited in Peninei Chassidut.)The Chassidic Rebbe notes that initially, the visitors towered over Avraham, but eventually, it is Avraham who stands above them:

Beraishit 18:2, 8

2 And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth…

8 And he took curd, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

R. Shalom explains:

… At first, the visitors were “higher” than Avraham because they were angels and he a mere human being. But. when he gave them food and drink and shelter, he stood even “higher” than the angels…

Discussion. 

Hospitality and revelation reflect two areas of religious activity—Bein Adam LeChaveiro and Bein Adam LaMakom. While the  Ten Commandments were given on two Tablets which split these responsibilities “down the middle,” some wish to advocate that the former are of greater importance than the latter. In fact, they are both important and form a symbiotic relationship with one another, i.e., recognizing that all human beings are created BeTzelem Elokim turns Mitzvot Bein Adam LeChaveiro into affirmations of Bein Adam LaMakom as well, and vice versa. (See my book The Great Principle of the Tora.) While on a certain level, prioritizing one over the other makes it simpler for human beings to function, determining what is of “greater importance”, in fact, most things in life are “shades of grey,” rather than “black and white.”