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Beit Midrash
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There are different levels of hospitality. Everyone is anxious to have interesting and famous guests frequent their homes and eat with them. However, people who are troubled and depressed, ragged in appearance or poor in hygiene, difficult in social situations and relationships with others are less desired guests. The prophet Yeshayahu in the famous chapter of his which we read as the haftorah on the morning of Yom Kippur speaks of bring "the downtrodden and bitter poor" to one’s home as guests. Not all of us are up to this sort of hospitality. I know of cases where the children of the household were turned off completely to granting any type of hospitality of their own in later life by the continued presence of strange and even disruptive guests at their parents’ Sabbath table when they were young. The effect that guests can have on the household of the hosts is definitely something to be considered in extending hospitality to strangers. The Torah, its values and commandments, is always a matter of healthy balance, of moderate and thoughtful behavior and in realizing the consequences that flow from one’s behavior, no matter how noble the motives for that behavior may be. And one should always realize upon whom the burden of hospitality falls in the household. Being a great host at the expense of one’s spouse’s labor and sleep is not always the fair and correct way of going about the fulfillment of the core value of hospitality. One should never assume the mantle of righteousness at someone else’s expense.
One of the great features of hospitality is that it helps, even if only temporarily, to alleviate the feeling of loneliness that guests or even hosts suffer from. Thus it is the companionship of other people much more than the food or drink that ultimately matters and is the true benefit of hospitality extended and received. Even those that have enough resources for all of the food deemed necessary to eat and enjoy desire human company and interaction. In our time and place I think that this latter feature is the true measure of current hospitality. Soup kitchens and charitable distribution of food packages are great examples of goodness and fill a vital physical need. Yet filling the stomach does not always fill one’s soul and spirit. Hence, the necessity to view hospitality in its broadest form and not only in its bare requirements, fundamental and axiomatic as they may be. The rabbis praised the sharing of food and drink with others "for it brings closer to us those who are far distant." We are not speaking any longer about physical distance, people who are from a far distant location, but rather about those who are physically near us but distant from us The rabbis realized the value of hospitality as companionship and bonding. As such perhaps hospitality in our age and place has taken on a different dimension than the usual traditional understanding of purely one of food and drink. We should and can raise hospitality to a new and important level in our social and home lives.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
