After Yaakov departed from Eretz Yisrael and entered Charan, he had the dream of the ladder. In this dream, he saw angels ascending and descending. Rashi says that the ascending angels were angels of Eretz Yisrael who accompanied Yaakov to the border. The descending angels were angels to accompany him while he was in galut. Similarly, twenty years later, when Yaakov returns to Eretz Yisrael, we have a similar switching of angels. In other words, Yaakov had the constant accompaniment of angels.
In this shiur I would like to explore the mitzvah of Livui, “accompaniment,” a very important and deeply profound mitzvah.
We learn about the mitzvah of accompaniment, from Avraham Avinu. The pasuk (Bereishit 21:33) says that Avraham established an eshel, a roadside “inn” in Be’er Sheva. The word eshel is an abbreviation (alef shin lamed) for achila (eating), shtiya (drinking) and there are two opinions what the “lamed” stands for – either lina (sleeping), or leviya (accompaniment).
The Rambam (Hilchot Aveilut 14:2) says that the most spiritually elevated component of the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim, hosting guests, is accompaniment and someone who does not accompany their guests when they leave, it is as if they “killed them.” We learn this from the Gemara (Sota 46b) regarding the mitzvah of Egla Arufa, discovering a dead body in the open space between two cities. The Gemara says that the reason the person died in the open space was because he was not adequately accompanied and therefore the two cities in closest proximity share culpability.
It may seem strange to us that the accompaniment component is so important and serious. One would think that giving a guest the best food, waiting on them and making them feel comfortable at the table are more important. However, consider it from a different perspective. Often someone hosts a guest out of a feeling of obligation to perform a mitzvah, or out of sympathy when they see someone without food or lodging.
Therefore, during the meal the guest cannot be totally certain if their host is hosting them with pure joy or because it is out of a feeling of obligation. However, if the host accompanies their guest after the guest has wined and dined, after the meal is over, this is a sign that the hosting was from pure joy, that the host was so happy having his guest as company, that they have difficulty parting from them. This is why accompaniment is the most important part, because it is beyond the letter of the law.
Even if the accompaniment of a guest is done for altruistic reasons, there is always the faint possibility that somewhere in the back of our minds we may have some ulterior motive for doing so, perhaps hoping one day for reciprocation. There is one kind of accompaniment, however, that is totally pure, with no ulterior motives. This is accompanying a deceased to their grave. This is the ultimate chesed that one human can do for another, because there are no chances of reciprocation.
In the case of Egla Arufa, the lack of accompaniment is literally like committing murder. You sent your guest on his way without the appropriate physical protection. However, in reference to not accompanying a guest who you simply invite for a meal, it doesn’t mean that you have literally “killed them,” but rather that you have “embarrassed” them. A guest who leaves without accompaniment may feel embarrassment – that you did not accompany them because you were not happy to host them and just wanted to be rid of them. This embarrassment is tantamount to murder.
The halacha (Choshen Mishpat 427:11) is that at the very least, a host should accompany their guest four amot (6½ ft), past the front door (some are strict to accompany 6½ ft from the front gate leading into the public domain).
It is very nice that Chazal attribute the source of this mitzvah to Avraham Avinu, but that is not 100% true, it began 1948 years before Avraham Avinu, in Gan Eden. HaKadosh Baruch Hu, after He created Adam HaRishon, said (Bereishit 2:18)
“It is not good for a man to walk alone, he should have accompaniment,” and HaKadosh Baruch Hu created Chava to accompany Adam. HaKadosh Baruch Hu did not create humans to walk alone. Accompaniment is a cornerstone of Creation. When humans “accompany” each other, look out for each other and are happy in each other’s company, that builds a stable society.
The chiddush of this week’s parsha is that not only should man be accompanied by his fellow man, but that each of us, not only Yaakov Avinu, is accompanied by angels. This is the reason we sing Shalom Aleichem upon returning home on Friday night, to bid farewell to the angels who accompanied us home from shul.
Our parsha teaches us that when one set of angels leave, another set of angels take their place. When we enter our homes, there is another set of angels waiting there to take over. In fact, there are always angels accompanying us, wherever we are.
Not only are we surrounded by protective angels, angels are part and parcel of us. HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s work is done by angels and many of these angels are physical elements and processes in nature. Everything that makes our bodies work, synapses in our nerves, blood flowing through our veins, our endocrine systems, our hearts beating, etc. these are all angels of HaKadosh Baruch Hu making sure that everything works.
Not only are we accompanied by angels, but HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself accompanies us at all times. Just as our physical bodies comprise different angels/messengers, we also have HaKadosh Baruch Hu within every single part of us. At our very core lies the image of G-d with which HaKadosh Baruch Hu created us.
When one understands this, it is ridiculous to imagine that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is not watching us, or hearing us. There is nowhere we can run or hide beyond the reach of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, because He is inside us and with us wherever we are. If we live with the understanding that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is constantly with us, watching us and also watching over us, it makes it difficult to sin.
If HaKadosh Baruch Hu accompanies us at all times, sends angels to accompany us at all times – then it is understandable why He demands the same from us. That we accompany our fellow man, that we exhibit the same joy in the company of our fellow man as He exhibits toward us.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: Who did Rivka go to consult with when she felt her twin fetuses “running about” inside her?
Answer to Last Shiur’s Trivia Question: Why did Yaakov give Eisav bread and red/brown lentil stew (Bereishit 25:34), when Eisav only asked for the lentils? If Yaakov only gave him lentils, Eisav may later claim that the sale was invalid as he was in a life-threatening state of hunger (bulmus) and therefore not of sound mind. Yaakov first gave him bread to satiate him so this claim would be invalid.
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