Welcoming Guests: Ancient Custom/Modern Lesson

Abraham, my esteemed guest, may you and all the other esteemed guests -- Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron and David -- dwell here (in the sukkah) with us. Sarah, my esteemed guest, may you and all the other esteemed guests -- Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah and Ruth -- dwell here (in the sukkah) with us.

We are taught that the tent of Abraham and Sarah had an opening on each side so that wayfarers -- from whichever direction they came -- would feel welcome to partake of their hospitality. As we read in Parshat Vayera, it was just such guests (actually, angels in disguise) who announced the future birth of Isaac.

Hakhnasat Orhim -- welcoming guests -- is a time-honored tradition among Jews. The invitation to "all who are hungry" in the Passover Haggadah is well known. Less familiar is the ceremony known as "ushpizin," in which we extend to our ancestors an invitation to join us in our sukkot.

Ushpizin is an Aramaic word meaning "guests." The traditional Aramaic invitation welcomes seven "exalted" male guests. Each day of the holiday, a different guest is featured. The name of the featured guest is read first, with the remaining guests named thereafter (see above for first day).Modern texts may include female role models as well (see above).

The origin of the ushpizin ceremony is found in the Zohar -- a primary source of Jewish mystical traditions. It is our hope that accompanying these guests will be the Shekhinah, God's spirit, which shelters and protects us.

Ushpizin, guests, can be invited into our sukkot at each meal or once a day. The following suggestions, one for each day of the holiday, may help you gain new insights into the importance and value of this wonderful tradition.

• First Day: Explore with family members and friends why tradition selected the various guests named above. What traits did they exhibit that merited their selection and designation as "exalted" guests?
  
  How can we incorporate their positive characteristics into our lives? Are there questions you would like to address to these guests? The following exercise, suggested by Kay Pomerantz, Senior Assistant Director of the Department of Education, may be helpful in this regard:
  
  Place two sets of clues (written before the holiday!) into a basket, one set containing descriptions and the other containing names. Next, have guests match up names with correct identifying descriptions. Use the following as examples:
  
  

  I am known for inviting guests into my home. Who am I? (Abraham)

  I had a son in my old age. Who am I? (Sarah)

  Out of dedication to God, I am prepared to be sacrificed. Who am I? (Isaac)/p>

  I waited a long time to have children, but my first son saved his brothers and sister. Who am I? (Rachel)

• Second Day: Designate other personalities from Jewish history as honored guests. Are there other biblical figures you would like to meet? Are there ancient sages you would like to invite - perhaps to continue a debate recorded in the Talmud?
  
  
• Third Day: What about our modern heroes? For example, what might we learn from the early Zionists, men and women who struggled to leave their native countries to pursue life in a country poor in natural resources and without basic comforts? Or what about the brave fighters in the Warsaw ghetto? Wouldn't they, too, be worthy guests?
  
  
• Fourth Day: Chances are, you have always wanted to meet your own ancestors. Use this as an opportunity. Prior to the holiday, research - through family records and interviews with older family members - your own family history. Which ancestors would you invite into your sukkah, and what kinds of questions would you ask? Is there anything you can do to find answers to these questions?
  
  
• Fifth Day: Consider how Sukkot might have been experienced at different times in your country's history. What might have been discussed, for example, in a sukkah in revolutionary days in the United States?
  
  
• Sixth Day: The custom of inviting guests into your sukkah is not limited to historical figures. It has also become customary to invite family, friends and neighbors to enjoy our hospitality. Progressive dinners - having appetizers in one sukkah, soup in the next...ending with dessert somewhere else - is both meaningful and fun! So, too, is "sukkah hopping," or stopping in at a variety of sukkot just to socialize and to nosh. Matching synagogue members who build sukkot with those who do not yet have them is another excellent method of involving peple in this mitzvah. Opening our synagogue sukkot to nonaffiliated Jews also helps spread the joy of the holiday and is a wonderful way to draw these Jews closer to the synagogue community.
  
  
• Seventh Day: The Zohar warns us that not only must we be joyous on Sukkot, but we must also "gladden the poor." The suggestion is made that the food prepared for our ancient guests must be given to the poor, instead. If Abraham is invited to our sukkah, the Zohar relates, and finds that the poor have not been provided for, he gets up to leave and says: "Move away from the tents of these wicked people" (based on Moses's warning in Num. 16:26). Alternatively, when our exalted guest Abraham finds that his portion has been given to the poor, he states: "You shall rejoice in the Lord" (based on Isaiah 58:4).

Obviously, these activities are not mutually exclusive. For example, on any one night we might plan on inviting ancient guests and donating food to a local food pantry. There is a valuable lesson to be learned from the custom of ushpizin, one that will stay with us throughout the year, and throughout our lives. Why not begin this year?