Chessed Begins at Home (Vayeira 5787)

This piece was first published in Hanassi Highlights, Thursday 29 October 2026. You can also read it in Hebrew here, thanks to Chat GPT.

In Parshat Vayeira, we encounter two remarkable acts of hachnasat orchim. Avraham Avinu, recovering from his brit milah, sits outside in the scorching heat, eagerly searching for guests. Despite his pain, he runs to welcome three strangers and personally attends to their every need.

Yet Lot's hospitality appears even more extraordinary. Living in Sodom, a society notorious for its cruelty towards strangers, Lot welcomes two visitors into his home. He knows full well the danger involved. Indeed, when the people of Sodom discover his guests, they surround his house and threaten him. Lot is prepared to risk his very life to protect them. And yet, it is Avraham who becomes our eternal model of chessed, while Lot is remembered as a deeply flawed and ultimately tragic figure. Why?

Perhaps the answer lies not simply in what each of them did, but in the homes they built. When the people of Sodom confront Lot, his response is horrifying. In a desperate attempt to protect his guests, he offers his own daughters to the mob. His commitment to hospitality is extraordinary, but his priorities have become terribly distorted. He is so focused on protecting those outside his home that he loses sight of his most basic responsibilities within it.

Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch draws our attention to another significant difference. Avraham's hospitality is a family endeavour. Sarah prepares the food, while Avraham involves the members of his household in caring for their guests. Lot, by contrast, acts entirely alone. His values, however admirable in this instance, have not become the values of his family. This distinction is reflected in Hashem's description of Avraham:

"For I have known him, because he commands his children and his household after him to keep the way of Hashem, doing righteousness and justice." (Bereishit 18:19)

Avraham's greatness lay not only in his personal acts of kindness, but in his ability to transmit those values to others. And here lies a profound lesson.

We naturally admire those who make a difference in the wider world, who dedicate themselves to helping others and improving society. And rightly so. But sometimes, in our eagerness to influence the world around us, we risk overlooking those closest to us.

Avraham Avinu reminds us that our greatest legacy is not necessarily measured by the extraordinary things we accomplish in the wider world, but by the small, everyday actions through which we instil values in our homes and inspire future generations to carry them forward.

Shabbat Shalom!

You can also read Rabbi Kenigsberg's post on Vayeira last year, "Avraham's Prayer: Seeing the Spark in Sodom" here.