As you know, one of the great traditions of Shabbat is the welcoming of guests.  On Sukkot, inviting people to one’s sukkah actually fulfills two mitzvot: hospitality, hakhnasat orkhim, and eating in the sukkah. Eating in sukkah is as important a mitzvah as hearing shofar, eating matzah, wearing tallit, or putting up a mezuzah.

But not all hospitality works out. I want you to think about your worst guest experience. Whether as a guest or as a host. What went wrong? Was it the food? The mix of people? Something that was said? It is not always easy to welcome guests.

My Los Angeles colleague, Rabbi Adam Kligfield recently wrote about his desire to see more families agree to host people on Friday nights after services. I’d also like to see us develop some programs to encourage this type of hospitality at Beth Tzedec. Too many Conservative Jews end their Shabbat observance on Friday night or with Kiddush on Shabbat. Rabbi Jill Borodin of Seattle told me that her congregation developed a tradition of having bagels and cream cheese for those who want to stay after shul to enjoy a Shabbat lunch together. Clearly, sharing a meal is an important aspect of Shabbat practice.

In the Men’s Club Walk, there is an exhibit of posters about Sukkot. One of them is for the film “Ushpizin”. In this film, first screened in 2004, Moshe and Mali are an impoverished, childless,Hasidicbaal teshuvacouple. They are part of the Breslav Hasidic community inJerusalem. Because he spends his days in study, Moshe depends on a stipend. But the funds he expected didn’t materialize.

Moshe admires a particularly beautiful etrog, but they cannot pay their bills, let alone prepare for Sukkot. The couple console themselves by recalling a saying of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav that difficult times are a test of faith. After anguished prayer, they receive an unexpected gift and Moshe buys the etrog.

This is a start of what you might anticipate to be a miracle story. But…The couple is visited by a pair of escaped convicts, one of whom knew Moshe in his earlier, non-religious life. The convicts become their guests in thesukkah, leading to conflicts and straining Moshe and Mali's relationship. I won’t disclose the ending. You can rent the film. But as we all know, not all guest experiences are great.

Ushpizin is an Aramaic word for short-term guests. The word appears in the Tosefta referring to guests at an inn (Tosefta Ma'aser Sheni 1:13). In modern Hebrew it refers to a place where one remains for a short stay – a convalescent facility. But in most Jewish texts, it refers to the heavenly guests that join us in the sukkah. This was a kabbalistic innovation that added a spiritual practice to the human pattern of inviting people to share a meal.

In the Zohar (Emor 103b), we find the source that led to the custom:

רִבִּי אֶלְעָזָר פָּתַח(ואמר), (ירמיה ב)כֹּה אָמַר ה' זָכַרְתִּי לָךְ חֶסֶד נְעוּרַיִךְ וְגוֹ'. ...זָכַרְתִּי לָךְ חֶסֶד: דָּא עֲנָנָא דְּאַהֲרֹן, דְּנַטְלָא בְּחָמֵשׁ אָחֳרָנִין, דְּאִתְקְשָׁרוּ עֲלָךְ, וּנְהִירוּ עָלָךְ. אַהֲבַת כְּלוּלוֹתָיִךְ, דְּאִשְׁתָּכְלָלוּ לָךְ, (ס''א וכלהו אשתכללו בך)וְאֲעְטָּרוּ לָךְ, .וְאַתְקִינוּ לָךְ כְּכַלָּה דְּתַעְדֵּי תַּכְשִׁיטָהָא. וְכָל כַּךְ לָמָּה. בְּגִין לֶכְתֵּךְ אַחֲרַי בַּמִּדְבָּר בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא זְרוּעָה   

תָּא חֲזֵי, בְּשַׁעֲתָא דְּבַר נָשׁ יָתִיב בְּמָדוֹרָא דָּא, צִלָּא דִּמְהֵימְנוּתָא, שְׁכִינְתָּא פַּרְסָא גַּדְפָהָא עָלֵיהּ מִלְּעֵילָּא, וְאַבְרָהָם וַחֲמִשָּׁה צַדִּיקַיָּיא אָחֳרָנִין שַׁוְיָין מָדוֹרֵיהוֹן עִמֵּיהּ. אָמַר רִבִּי אַבָּא, אַבְרָהָם וַחֲמִשָּׁה צַדִּיקַיָּיא, וְדָוִד מַלְכָּא, שַׁוְיָין מָדוֹרֵיהוֹן עִמֵּיהּ. הֲדָא הוּא דִּכְתִּיב, בַּסֻּכּוֹת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים. שִׁבְעַת יָמִים כְּתִיב, וְלָא בְּשִׁבְעַת יָמִים. כְּגַוְונָא דָּא כְּתִיב, (שמות לא)כִּי שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים עָשָׂה ה' אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְגוֹ'. וּבָעֵי בַּר נָשׁ לְמֶחְדֵּי בְּכָל יוֹמָא וְיוֹמָא, בְּאַנְפִּין נְהִירִין, בְּאוּשְׁפִּיזִין אִלֵּין דְּשַׁרְיָין עִמֵּיהּ. 

וְאָמַר רִבִּי אַבָּא, כְּתִיב בַּסֻּכּוֹת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים, וּלְבָתַר יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכּוֹת. בְּקַדְמִיתָא תֵּשְׁבוּ, וּלְבָתַר יֵשְׁבוּ. אֶלָּא, קַדְמָאָה לְאוּשְׁפִּיזֵי. תִּנְיָינָא, לִבְנֵי עָלְמָא. קַדְמָאָה לְאוּשְׁפִּיזֵי, כִּי הָא דְּרַב הַמְנוּנָא סָבָא, כַּד הֲוָה עָיֵיל לַסּוּכָּה הֲוָה חַדֵּי, וְקָאִים עַל פִּתְחָא לַסּוּכָּה מִלְּגָאו, וְאָמַר נְזַמֵּן לְאוּשְׁפִּיזִין. מְסַדֵּר(נ''א נסדר)פָּתוֹרָא, וְקָאִים עַל רַגְלוֹהִי, וּמְבָרֵךְ, וְאוֹמֵר בַּסֻּכּוֹת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים. תִּיבוּ אוּשְׁפִּיזִין עִלָּאִין, תִּיבוּ. תִּיבוּ אוּשְׁפִּיזֵי מְהֵימְנוּתָא, תִּיבוּ. אָרִים(ס''א אסחי)יְדוֹי, וְחַדֵּי, וְאָמַר זַכָּאָה חוּלָּקָנָא, זַכָּאָה חוּלָקֵיהוֹן דְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, דִּכְתִּיב, (דברים לב)כִּי חֵלֶק ה' עַמּוֹ וְגוֹ', וַהֲוָה יָתִיב. 

Rabbi Elazar opened [to explain the scripture "Go and call out to Jerusalem...] Thus says YHVH: I remember the devotion (hesed) of your youth [your love as a bride who followed Me in the wilderness"(Jeremiah 2:2)]…. This refers to Aharon's cloud that floated with another five [clouds that corresponded to the sefirot of gevurah, tiferet, netzah, hod, and yesod], joined to you, shining on you. "Your love as a bride": they decorated, crowned and arrayed You like a bride bedecked with her jewels. Why all this? Because, "you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land unsown" [because the Shekhinah followed Israel when they were traveling in the wilderness].

Come and see, when one sits in this dwelling in the shade of faith, Shekhinah spreads Her wings over him from above, Avraham [representing hesed], and five other righteous heroes [tzadikim, Yitzhaq, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, and Yosef, each representing one of the other 5 sefirot] come to dwell with him.

Rabbi Abba said: Avraham, the five righteous heroes, and David [representing malkhut] come to dwell with him! This is the meaning of, "Seven days shall dwell in sukkot." (Lev. 23:42) It says, "seven days," not 'for seven days'. Similarly it is written, "Six days God made heaven and earth."(Ex. 31:17)[The sefirot of hesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzah, hod, and yesod are called "6 days", and through them, God made heaven and earth. Similarly, you shall dwell in sukkot) together with the 7 tzadikim, called the ushpizin/ guests, whose source are the 7 sefirot that rule over each day.] Day after day [of Sukkot], one should rejoice with a radiant face, with those ushpizin that dwell with him.

Rabbi Abba said, it is written, "Seven days dwell in sukkot"; then, "they shall dwell in sukkot." (Lev. 23:42)  First: "You shall dwell" and then, "they shall dwell." The first verse is a commandment for the guests. The second commandment is for those who dwell in this world.

The first is for the [spiritual] guests. Rav Hamnuna Saba, when entering the sukkah, would stand in joy inside the opening and say, “Let us invite the guests [the ushpizin]. He would set the table, stand erect [in honor of the ushpizin] and bless [the berakhah for dwelling in the sukkah [thus bringing the Shekhinah into the sukkah] and then say [to the ushpizin], "You [the 7 days] shall dwell in sukkot." Sit down, sublime guests, have a seat. Sit down, guests of faith [the Shekhinah], have a seat. Raising his hands in joy [to connect all 10 sefirot, 

suggested by the 10 fingers] he would say, 'Happy is our portion, happy the portion of Israel! As it is written, "the portion of YHVH is His people." (Deut. 32:9) Then he would sit down [to eat inside the sukkah].

The second verse ["they shall dwell in booths"] is for humans in this world. One who has a portion among the holy people and in the holy land sits in the shade of faith to welcome the ushpizin, guests, to rejoice in this world and in the world that is coming.  And we must make the poor happy; for the portion of the [spiritual] guests whom he invited comes from the poor when they eat [as if he has placed it before the ushpizin].[1]

The Biblical model forhospitality (hakhnasat orkhim)  goes back to Avraham and the first guests (the three visitors). The apocryphal Book of Jubilees (16:21) even claims that the first sukkah, on which the festival of Sukkot is based, was built by Avraham when he greeted the three guests. In kabbalah, Avraham represents hesed, the virtue of kindness. Amplifying this, the Zohar teaches that the ushpizin would not enter a sukkah if the poor were not welcome.

But there is more to the symbolism of the ushpizin. In addition to serving as a reminder of our duty to the poor, each of these exalted guests represents uprootedness. Avraham left his father's home for the land God promised to show him (Genesis 12:1); Yitzhaq went to Gerar during a famine (Genesis 26:1);  Yaakov fled from his brother Esau (Genesis 28:2); Yosef was sold into slavery (Genesis 37:23-36); Moshe fled to Midian after killing an Egyptian (Exodus 2:11-15); he and Aharon wandered the Wilderness for forty years, and David fled from Saul (I Samuel 20, 21).

In their wanderings, each contributed to the world through a respective personal virtue.  Avraham represents hesed, love and kindness. Yitzhaq represents gevurah, restraint and personal strength. Yaakov represents tiferet, beauty and truth. Moshe represents netzah, eternal life through Torah. Aharon represents hod, the splendor of divine service. Yosef represents yesod, the spiritual foundation of holiness. And David represents malkhut, the establishment of divine sovereignty. These seven qualities also refer to mystical manifestations of the ways in which God interacts with creation.

Earlier this week, Lorne quoted Prof. Saul Lieberman, my teacher, who once introduced Prof. Gershom Scholem of the Hebrew University with the following back-handed compliment: mysticism is nonsense; but the study of mysticism is great scholarship. Lorne said that this tradition of ushpizin is nice but weird.

I don’t agree. I think we want our religious lives to build a connection with God, a harmony with heaven, a spiritual alignment. By inviting these founding figures of Judaism to be our spiritual guests, with each individual representing an aspect of divine personality, we make our small sukkah into a sacred, spiritual space. We create a heavenly harmony by aligning our natural world with the divine world.

I think that even non-kabbalists can find value in the tradition of ushpizin by adding a new dimension to what was a novel practice when initiated by those who used the Zohar as a base for religious practice.

In recent years, we have seen the addition of women to the ushpizin. Some claim that the precedent goes back to Renaissance times, but I doubt this. The female guests are usually paired with the original male Biblical heroes. Who are included? According to one source: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Hulda, and Esther, all of whom are associated with prophetic action. Others retain Sarah, but replace the others with Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, Dinah, Tamar, and Ruth. [2]

One can invite great historical figures.  Whom would you invite to share your dinner? Rashi? Moses Mendelssohn? Theodor Herzl? David Ben-Gurion?

For a moment, think about the best guest experience you ever had- either as a host or as the recipient of hospitality. What made it so memorable? Was it the food? The company? The occasion? The location?  I imagine it was something else, something intangible.

There is something profoundly spiritual about a moment when we feel that everything has aligned. Perhaps that is what our mystical teachers were pointing toward when they had us invite ushpizin. If we bring the right intention to our Sukkot celebration, perhaps we can also find- or forge- that spiritual sweet spot in our sukkah.