Lessons from Whole Foods and The Mitzvah of Hospitality

During the past few weeks I have had a booth at the local Whole Foods sharing apples and honey and telling people about Panim Hadashot. People are actually excited to talk with a Rabbi in the market and the conversations have been exhilarating and fascinating. From these many encounters I have found it helpful to open with an explanation of the meaning of Panim Hadashot.

I tell people that the word in Hebrew means New Face or New Faces. The Talmud uses the term in reference to a newly married couple who are feted during the first seven days of marriage with parties. At these parties the 7 blessings, which were chanted under the Huppah, are chanted again and the joy and celebration is extended from the original wedding date. The Talmud requires that these parties can only happen if there is a minyan (a quota of 10 Jews) and 'Panim Hadashot' are present. A new face must be included who was not present at the wedding. I go on to interpret the meaning of the rabbinic law to people at the booth. The purpose of the requirement of Panim Hadashot is to extend the joy to others outside one's immediate circle of friends and family.

When I tell people this at the market, their eyes open wide and they smile. "What a beautiful tradition," people tell me. My opening causes a lot of people to tell their stories. One of the most common stories of the Jews is the inhospitality or cliquishness of synagogues. Other Jews are simply fascinated with a Jewish organization that emphasizes hospitality and the sharing of Shabbat and festivals around a table. Many non-Jews come to the booth and ask us about the food traditions. Many others ask about Panim Hadashot which leads to fascinating discussions about religion. Many of the non-Jews have Jewish friends and even family such as the young non-Jewish man wearing a T shirt from his cousin's Bar MItzvah.

The Whole Foods booth has taught me how much Jewish demographics have changed. Jews have fully integrated in Seattle. Many are intermarried, they do not socialize exclusively with Jews, and their idenities are complex in which Judaism is only a part of who they are. It has also taught me the value of educating non-Jews about the beautfiul traditions of Shabbat, festivals, and home traditions.

These conversations have clarified for me the contribution of Panim Hadashot to Jewish life. By making hospitality our primary value and goal we reverse a very negative view of Judaism held by many Jews. They view Jews and Judaism as clannish, standoffish, cliquish, and unfriendly. This perception is inaccurate in many cases, but I have learned that it is widely held among Jews who hesitate to affiliate or connect to organized Jewish life. That view is even common among affiliated Jews.

I started Panim Hadashot from an awareness of this blind spot in the organized community. I saw it as a pulpit rabbi when the most committed Jews were indifferent or even hostile to newcomers. I see the problem of cliquishness in most synagogues which unintentionally fall into becoming communities of closed circles, of committed cores with larger numbers of indifferent and disengaged members in the periphery. Most of all, I see the problem in the fact that most Jews do not even come close to seeing hospitality (hachnasat orchim) as a mitzvah.

So many of the Jews we meet at Whole Foods are surprised and excited to hear of a Jewish organization that is open and welcoming. One of the participants called us a "clique buster" and felt that Panim was the first Jewish organization that he would feel comfortable in. I would put it positively. The emerging core aim of our work is to restore hospitality as a mitzvah of living a Jewish life. It should not be the goal of an organization, but the personal commitment of every Jew. To make this so, not only involves instilling a more welcoming outlook in Jews, but a reappropriation of the practices of Jewish life most adapted for sharing. That is why I have emphasized the linking of Shabbat and hospitality for Shabbat is the great Jewish teaching and way of life that should be shared in all its beauty and greatness.

After all the other meaning of Panim Hadashot is Shabbat, for the Sabbath presents a "New Face" to us each week. It is also time for us to welcome it and share it with others.

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg