Hospitality, an exhortation to recognize and transcend social class segregation (CCAR 1923)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

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11 March 2026 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, exhortation, hospitality, social class, social justice, teḥinot in English, תוכחות tokheḥot

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	The stranger did not lodge in the street; my doors I opened to the roadside. (Job 31:32)
	And lo! three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth and said: My lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let now a little water be fetched— and recline yourselves under the tree; after that ye shall pass on.’ (Genesis 18:2-5)
	Lord, who shall sojourn in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell upon Thy holy mountain? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. (Psalms 15:1-2)
	Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou has anointed my head with oil; my cup runneth over. (Psalms 28:5)
	Let the poor be members of thy household. (Pirqei Avot 1.5)
	A man’s house should be open wide to the north, to the south, to the east, to the west— so that the poor should not be put to trouble in finding entrance. (ֽAvot deRabbi Natan 7.1)
	Hospitality is most blessed when brotherliness attends it. Our social divisions into classes did not exist in bygone centuries of Jewish life; the poorest sojourners were guests at the tables of the wealthy.
	Hospitality is at its fairest when the heart corresponds with the outward act. “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith” (Proverbs 15:17).
	Hospitality is at its noblest when it is the occasion not of mere indulgence but of lofty converse. Our sages have said: “If three have eaten at a table and conversed on sacred themes they have, as it were, eaten at the table of the Most High” (Pirqei Avot 3.3).^[1] As published, this quotation appears twice: once here, and once above in the litany of thematic source texts. We have removed it from the litany since its repetition is unnecessary and likely an oversight in editing.
	Thoughts as well as persons can be objects of hospitality. As the individual whose home is open is more gracious than he whose doors are shut, so is the mind which is open to light from all directions more gracious than the mind that is barred and inaccessible. We must love the stranger for we were strangers in the land of Egypt. We must receive our fellowmen in kindliness for God is hospitable to us. The Psalmist said: “Thou preparest a table before me. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over… I shall dwell in the house of the Lord” (Psalms 23:5-6) All of these treasured phrases are from the language of hospitality. For God is the host whose hospitality is at hand for our yearning hearts and souls.
	O Heavenly Father, the heavens are Thy throne, the earth Thy footstool, all the world Thy house. We are but strangers and sojourners before Thee. O receive us into Thy presence. Grant that by our daily acts of kindness we come to realize Thy boundless beneficence. May we perceive in every hospitality we confer or receive the image of that supreme hospitality whereby we feast at the table of life everlasting. May ours be a hospitality engaging the heart no less than the sense, not merely indulging the appetites but bringing light to the soul and transcending the unbrotherly lines of class separation; conscious that, before Thee, there is no division of higher and lower but only a brotherhood of Thy children all alike bidden to share in Thy bounties unstinted. Amen.

“Hospitality” is the thirtieth prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 102-104. Unfortunately, we do not yet know of a resource providing clear attribution of authorship for any of the prayers in this volume.

Source(s)

Notes

Notes
1	As published, this quotation appears twice: once here, and once above in the litany of thematic source texts. We have removed it from the litany since its repetition is unnecessary and likely an oversight in editing.

Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Unknown

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Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)

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