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Why does the Torah (תורה) recommend decreasing hospitality each day a guest stays? The Gemara (גמרא)'s paradox of good versus bad guests reveals that true hachnasas orchim means making visitors feel like family members, not honored impositions. Each day's diminishing formality helps guests feel genuinely at home.
This shiur explores a fascinating Midrash on Parashas Pinchas regarding the proper treatment of guests, which recommends giving guests the best food on the first day and gradually decreasing the quality each subsequent day. Rabbi Zweig addresses the counterintuitive nature of this advice by analyzing a Gemara (גמרא) that discusses the perspectives of good versus bad guests. The Gemara presents a paradox: a bad guest says "everything the host did, he did for himself," while a good guest says "everything the host did, he did for me." This seems backwards - why would Chazal characterize these perspectives this way, and why not simply tell the truth that hosts do some things for themselves and some for their guests?
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Parshas Pinchas - Midrash on hospitality
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