From the Rabbi's Desk

Hospitality.

I'm not talking about five-star hotels or luxury resorts that are very hospitable in exchange for five-star prices. I'm talking true, original, hospitality, the kind that Avraham, our ancestor, was famous for. Opening your home to another, and treating them like royalty.

The opening scene of this week's Torah portion is about how Avraham, disrupts his interaction with Hashem and runs off to attend to three guests who arrived. He personally attends to their needs, providing shade, water to bathe, and plentiful food in the middle of the desert. Cakes made from fine flour, milk and butter, expensive cuts of meat (with mustard), and keeps them company throughout their visit.

While charity is about fulfilling a physical, tangible need, hospitality runs deeper in a sense. It's about making your guest feel like they belong. It's creating a home away from home. It's the smile, the warmth, the care. It may not be a gourmet five-course menu, but it is your very best. Not sufficing with supplying the bare minimum for survival, but pulling out all the stops for this special visitor.

You can travel to a city where you've never been, and when invited to a Shabbat dinner, feel like you never left home. You can be visited by Mark Zuckerberg, and while he may not need charity, he can certainly be a recipient of hospitality. 

The generosity and attention to others, boost our character and tap into the Avraham nature inside of us. This kindness is such a special Mitzvah that it is worthy of disrupting one's own spiritual experience (a conversation with Hashem), to make this magic happen.

Let us all resolve to be more hospitable to one another, showing each other that we genuinely care, making the world a welcoming place. Making it feel like home.

Lech Lecha - Go. 

Sometimes we feel like we have arrived. We are finally comfortable with where we are. We've spent years on education. Decades building a resume and portfolio. We've achieved a measure of a success that we are content with. Strong social circles. Achievements adorn the walls of your office. Your status is secure.

Now what?

Let's look to the very first Jew, Avraham, for direction. At age 75, he is instructed by Hashem to go. To leave his birthplace, leave his comfort zone, and go "to the land that I will show you".

Now, this is not a recommendation for everyone to pick up and sell their home and head out into the wild blue yonder. Rather, it is a timeless message that we should never be truly satisfied. We should always continue to grow, develop, and push the envelope. It is today, with all of my past experience, that I finally have the tools to level up. 

Expand your horizons, stay curious, and who knows? Like, Avraham, you might just discover the next big thing. 

One year ago, I was driving back from the airport after dropping off our cousin who had visited from NY. The crisp evening air smelled like a campfire. I wondered about the strong winds on Richmond overpass. As a precaution, I rolled up our Sukkah bamboo mat so the wind wouldn't lift it off the sukkah.

We woke up the next morning to an apocalyptic scene. Ash covered cars, the sky a fiery red, air thick with smoke. The next days were a blur of N95 masks, evacuation centers, checking in with friends, praying that the fires be contained. The love in the air was truly thicker than the smoke, with countless volunteers stepping up, stockpiles of donated goods, homes and hearts opened.

When the dust finally settled, the Tubbs fire was declared California's most destructive wildfire. Entire neighborhoods in nearby Santa Rosa had been burned. Every one of us knew someone who had lost a home.

While the county has begun to rebuild, the impact of the fires won't soon be forgotten. Nor should it be. The Ba'al Shem Tov taught that everything that we encounter should teach us something, it should inform our life going forward.

If we, by divine design, were in such close proximity to the fires, then our lives should be different as a result. Perhaps it is our perspective on what we hold most dear, perhaps it is the unconditional willingness to help a perfect stranger.

This Tuesday evening we will be hosting a special evening In Light of the Fires - An Evening of Recovery with Rabbi Shais Taub, a noted author and speaker on Trauma Recovery. He will address these topics as well as others such as How to cope with loss? Are natural disasters really "natural"? and Why does Life test us?

The event will take place at Sonoma State University on Tuesday, October 16, 7pm.
Please RSVP for this important event: