The Mitzvah of Hospitality

The sages believed that the mitzvot of the Torah were there to act as counterweight to our natural tendencies. A mitzvah is by definition hard to do because it may go against our nature, our drives. The other day it dawned on me why Hachnasat Orchim-hospitality is a mitzvah. It is really hard to reach out to the other. As human beings we are naturally tribal, familial, and self centered. To regard and welcome the other you have to step out of your context and extend yourself.

When I was a rabbi of a shul, I always heard outsiders complain that the congregation was cliquish. It drove me crazy when I heard that criticism because I thought that hospitality is at the core of what it means to be a Jewish community. Yet in reality it isn't. Communities default into cliques and circles, like a full cup of tea that cannot absorb anymore. Yet the mitzvah of hospitality challenges the notion that we are full and cannot take in anymore. Welcoming and extending our hand to the other is something we are commanded to do. So the question becomes, how does one fulfill the mitzvah as a part of one's life? How is one intentional about the mitzvah?