So now Donald Trump is about to invite the worst person on earth (or maybe the second worst) to stay with him in Florida and crash the G-20 in December. As angry as that news makes me, it got me thinking about how central hospitality is for Jews. Could the Torah be telling us that welcoming someone like Putin would not only be acceptable, but recommended? Or are there limits to acts of kindness?
I’ll cut to the chase. There are definitely limits to acts of kindness and inviting Putin to the G-20 is a catastrophic idea. But it still is worth grappling with the question as to whether hospitality could be so radical as to include a mass murderer. Why?
Elie Wiesel often told a parable about the man who stood at the entrance of Sodom, crying out against the injustice and evil in that city. A passerby said to him, “For years you have been urging the people to repent, and yet no one has changed. Why do you continue?” He responded: “When I first came, I protested because I hoped to change the people of Sodom. Now I continue to cry out, because if I don’t, they will have changed me.”
Along the same lines, I’m going to plead here for the power of basic acts of kindness, because Trump and his ilk have coarsened society to such a degree that it would have been so easy to laugh at the idea of inviting any guest, much less Putin. In the Trump/ ICE era, all strangers are to be regarded with suspicion, with an eye toward removal, or worse. When you look at what has been done to people in the name of the United States - and the deportations and imprisonments are accelerating - and when we are coming off a High Holidays where synagogues were attacked by antisemites in the diaspora,1 and by Jews in Israel (!) 2- we need some manner of moral shock treatment to zap our consciences back into shape. We need an oblation of ethical obligation.
So I bring up “Putin in the Sukkah” as a means of forcing myself to maintain a degree of humanity, while at the same time not acting like a total fool (or as they call it in Hebrew, a “freier” a sucker), who lets despots in the front door. Oh wait, that’s what Trump is doing!
Hospitality is a good thing.
No question that in Jewish sources, few acts of kindness are considered as potent as hospitality. The Talmud states that…
Rav Dimi of Nehardea said: Hachnasat orchim - the welcoming of guest - takes precedence over Torah study.
Rav Judah said in Rav’s name: Hachnasat orchim — the welcoming of guests takes precedence even over welcoming the divine presence — the Shechinah (Shabbat 127a).
Educator Ron Wolfson has written, “The art of welcoming rests on a central Jewish idea: every human being is created in the image of God. When we see each other as an embodiment of Godliness, welcoming someone becomes an act of profound spirituality. Welcoming is the first step in building a relationship with another.”
If welcoming guests “trumps” even welcoming God’s presence, as well as Judaism’s most primal act of worship: the study of sacred text, does that kindness have to include a guest who has terrorized his neighbors and dragged nearly all of Europe to the brink of war?
Ushpizin
The week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles), which begins Friday evening, is a time when Jews are instructed to dwell in temporary booths to recreate the experience of wandering in the wilderness. Given the autumn chill in many parts of the world - and for New Englanders, an expected nor’easter will usher in the holiday with wind and rain, the warmth comes not from nature or insulated walls, but from human kindness and family togetherness.
Hospitality is a key element of this holiday. In many Jewish neighborhoods, neighbors “hop” from sukkah to sukkah and the welcome extends even to those no longer alive. There’s a custom to invite key figures from Jewish history whose lives and teachings we hope will inspire people in our day. The custom is called Ushpizin, which is the Aramaic word for guests. In a traditional setting, that means mostly male notables, with the lineup including Abraham on day one, then on subsequent days, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David.
While no slouches, this list could use a little D.E.I., and so in recent decades, great Jewish women have been added, including Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Ruth, Deborah, Esther. I’d throw in Miriam as well, and a case could be made for more contemporary figures like Golda Meir - and of course, the recently departed Gloria Steinem.
My colleague Rabbi Jack Moline put together brief Ushpizin ceremonies highlighting the contributions of women, diverse Jewish communities from around the world, interfaith groups and founders of Conservative Judaism.
You can download his packet below:
The point is that everyone should feel welcome, valued and “seen” in a sukkah.
But is the welcome mat an absolute? What about heretics? What about Putin?
A few years ago, I picked up a whimsical poster suggesting that we welcome even the worst of the worst. It displays seven infamous Jews who were considered heretics by the Jewish leaders of their time. You can see it above. The heading is, in Hebrew, “The Seven Minim.”
It's a play on words. The word minim typically connotes the "species" such as those seven listed by the Bible as indigenous to the land of Israel (e.g. wheat, grapes, olives) - and especially the "four kinds (Arba Minim)” that are waved on the holiday: palm, citron, willow and myrtle. But that same Hebrew word “minim” has multiple meanings, including heretics.
Well, the Dov Abramson Studio in Jerusalem came up with this Sukkah poster celebrating seven great heretics of Jewish history, including such anti-notables as Jacob Frank, Elisha Ben Abuyah (about whom the book "As a Driven Leaf" was written, Benjamin Disraeli, Sarah Theodora, Baruch Spinoza, Shabbetai Tzvi, and Laila Mourad. Click on their names to read about their escapades.
I guess it was considered “too soon” for Bernie Madoff to make the list, and Stephen Miller, well, he’ll be there some day. I’d love to excommunicate him myself. And who knows who else might emerge into this Rogues Gallery of misfits from the Trump era.
But the point is, would you welcome anyone from this gallery into your Sukkah? Personally, I’d love a conversation with Spinoza. Maybe Elisha and Disraeli.
But Putin? never! He’s not merely a heretic in the Jewish sense, like the others. Of course he’s not even Jewish. His betrayal of God went far beyond disloyalty to one faith tradition.
So to cut to the chase, the answer is no, absolutely no, and are you crazy? And there’s grounds for barring the door.
Per Jewish law, the obligation to welcome guests is overruled if the guest causes emotional or physical distress to the host. The Zohar notes that Noah was invited into the Ark by God only after he was proclaimed a “tzaddik,” a righteous man in the opening verse of the Noah cycle in the Torah. God had first done some digging and Noah had passed the background check.
Putin certainly would not pass any such check.
So here’s my point.
I wrote a book about being a mensch; I understand how important it is to reach out even to your opponent to make peace. I get how things are feverishly partisan right now. I listened to many rabbis speak and write on the holidays about the need for peace and unity right now and reaching across the aisle and all that. And normally I am in favor of that. I really am.
But not now, not with Putin and not with Trump or Trumpism.
Certain people have not earned the right to be invited to my sukkah.
I wouldn’t even allow them into my press pool.
Have a joyous holiday!
Here’s some background info on the meaning of the lulav and etrog.
Some Sukkot social justice resources from AJWS
What is Ushpizin? (Jewish Virtual Library)
In Canada:
Reform synagogue in Jerusalem attacked repeatedly over the holidays by Haredi Jews (Ha’aretz)
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