By Rabbi David Bibi
In the age before cell phones, a certain Talmid Haham was coming to the city of Strasbourg in France for a Shabbat. He made arrangements with a family to host him in their home, but when he arrived Friday afternoon at their home, they were not home. Perhaps an emergency or they forgot and a neighbor told him they had left the city for the weekend.
With no other choice and not knowing anyone in town, he heads to the synagogue for Friday evening prayers with his suitcase which he figures he’ll store in the synagogue and make the best of it.
At the end of the end of tefilah, a man walks over to him and ask him if he has a place to eat for Shabbat and the Rabbi tells him that his plans got a bit messed up with the family not being home and so the man invites him over for dinner and to spend the night.
When the Rabbi arrives at the man’s house, he sees that the man is living there with his wife and his eight children and in the dining room he sees a beautiful table set for eleven people, so he wonders if some other guest was meant to join them. A few minutes later, the host tells him that this is in fact his place.
He enjoys a wonderful dinner with a special family and the rest of Shabbat with them as well.
A few months later, the Rabbi is again needed in Strasbourg so he makes arrangements with this same family to host him for Shabbat.
After Friday night prayers and the walk back to the house, he notices that the table now is set for 12 people. He figures he’s the 11th but who is the 12th? And as they make Kiddush and sit to eat, he notices there is no twelfth and he understands that the family must always set the table for an extra person.
Why the Extra Chair Each Shabbat
He asked the young man he’s seated next to why the extra chair each Shabbat and the young man explains to him that each Friday they set the table for a guest and while the mother lights the candles, the father says a special tefilah that the family should be bless to fulfil the misvah of hachnasat orchim – taking in guests, on Shabbat.
And so the scholar asked the young man, so you often have guests? And the young man says, Rabbi, we live in Strasbourg. Not too many people pass through Strasbourg. In fact, it is very rare for us to get a guest.
Later on, the scholar asks his host why then do you make the family set an extra place in Shabbat? Why not simply set the extra place if and when you bring a guest home?
The Host Has Two Reasons
And the host explained to the rabbi that he had two reasons. One was for his children to appreciate the commandments of entertaining guests. Each week they would see him pray for guests to come and they would set the table and they would remain home waiting in anticipation that they would be able to fulfill this tremendous misvah.
And if they were unable to fulfil the misvah, at least they did the preparation and had this anticipation and all that would help them see and experience how important this misvah is.
The rabbi then asked what was the second reason. The host explained that if we had a place setting at the last minute, the guest might feel that perhaps there wasn’t enough food for him and only enough for the family and might be reluctant to eat, but when someone comes into the house and sees that in fact there is a chair set for them, they will feel comfortable that the family was definitely prepared for guests as well.
Reprinted from the Parashat Reeh 5763 email of Rabbi Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace.
