Hospitality, Hostility and the Issues of Interiority and Secrecy

Abstract

Hospitality as a value originates from religious traditions, be they Greek and Roman, embodied by the New Testament or the Hebrew Bible. Their prescriptive force remains as the foundation of the view of hospitality still ongoing today in the Jewish tradition, thus constituting the other pole of the tension between hospitality as a value, and hospitality as modern practice. This pole of values will be addressed through the ethical and practical lived experiences and approaches of the Hebrew Bible. It is difficult to be hospitable. Punishments for breaches of the laws of hospitality amount to acknowledging this obligation as a trial for both hosted and welcoming host. I have developed the concept of hospitality as the great trial of and, indeed, the great adventure of dwelling (Serfaty, 2016). Why is hospitality the great trial of dwelling? What is at stake in the risk of hospitality drifting into hostility? I will address that question by defining and further exploring the experience of dwelling and the issues of the inhabitants’ interiority and secrecy. The conclusion of this chapter will take us back to the Jewish tradition regarding the intimate links between home, hospitality and journeying, through the exploration of the multiple emblematic meanings of one of the letters of its alphabet, the letter B (bet) and of the mezuzah, the piece of parchment enclosed in a case that is placed on the doorposts of Jewish homes.