No Jew A Stranger

ITEM: As newly-religious Jews, we wanted to travel from our home in Baltimore to Brooklyn, to walk the streets of Boro Park, to shop in its stores, to eat its pizza and to revel in the intense Jewishness of the place. Through Jewish connections, we were given the keys to an empty apartment in Boro Park. The apartment belonged to the sister of the rabbi’s wife. She was away for a few days and her apartment was unoccupied. Though we had never met our hosts, we were entrusted with a key to their apartment and invited to make ourselves at home.

ITEM: Standing on the street in front of that apartment building, not knowing which way to go to get to a particular address, I flagged down a driver to ask directions. “Hop in,” he said. “I’ll take you there.”

ITEM: Anywhere in Israel is a service that sets up thousands of Jewish students in Israel with Shabbat hosts anywhere in Israel, completely free of charge. So if you’re studying in Israel and need a place to go for Shabbat, Anywhere in Israel will set you up for Shabbat meals and housing with a family in Israel at no cost.

ITEM: What Anywhere in Israel does for Jewish students studying in Israel, Shabbat.com does for Jews around the world. As of this writing, Shabbat.com matched 55,965 members with hosts for over 468,592 Shabbat meals in 4,383 cities and 121 countries.



Are we Jews crazy, taking total strangers into our homes? Actually, these examples are a tiny window into the Jewish value of hachnasat orchim – welcoming guests. The earliest source for this mitzvah are the Biblical ancestors Avraham and Sara, who were known for welcoming guests into their humble tents, feeding them generously and treating them with warmth and respect.

During the time the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, Jews from all over Israel were expected to travel to the Temple three times a year. The year-round residents of Jerusalem were so gracious in providing hospitality to visiting Jews that it is taught that “No person ever said to another, ‘I couldn’t find a bed to sleep on in Jerusalem.’ No person ever said to another, ‘Jerusalem is too crowded for me to be able to stay over there.'” (Avot de-Rabbi Natan 33).

At the beginning of the Passover Seder, we say, “Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in need come and share the Passover sacrifice.” Although it’s unlikely that anyone, in the history of reading these words from the Hagaddah, ever got an extra Seder guest at that point, it does make it clear that inviting guests is a Jewish value.

In his book, Abraham’s Journey: Reflections on the Life of the Founding Patriarch, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik reminds us that, when we have guests, for a meal or for a whole Shabbat, we are welcoming them as equals, as part of the Jewish family. We see the Godliness in a fellow Jew and we invite that quality into the privacy of our homes.