DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 604 KB)
If a Host Tells a Guest to Leave

The Gemara says, "Do anything a host tell you to do, except leave." A guest is obliged to obey his host, unless his host tells him to leave the home.

The commentators raise the question of why a guest is entitled to remain in someone’s home against the host’s will. Seemingly, a host reserves the right to tell his guest to leave. How can we explain the Gemara’s comment?

The Sefat Emet (Rav Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger, 1847-1905) explains that this provision was made in response to the tragic incident of Kamsa and Bar Kamsa, which the Gemara relates in Masechet Gittin. An invitation intended for Kamsa was mistakenly delivered to Bar Kamsa, and when Bar Kamsa arrived at the party, the host forced him to leave. Bar Kamsa was very embarrassed, and decided to avenge his disgrace by going to the Roman emperor and telling him that the Jews rebelled against him, ultimately causing the destruction of Jerusalem. In response, the Sages enacted this provision that if somebody comes to a function to which he was not invited, he should not be told to leave. And if the host tells him to leave, he does not have to listen.

Thus, if a person, for whatever reason, attends a function uninvited, the host should not embarrass him by telling him to leave. We should learn the lesson taught by the tragedy of Kamsa and Bar Kamsa, and ensure not to embarrass a fellow Jew, even in a case of an uninvited guest.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Drinking Liquor, Beer and Cognac During the Nine Days
Is it Permissible to Take Medication on Tisha B’Ab?
Tisha B’Ab – Must One Stand in Honor of His Father or Rabbi on Tisha B’Ab?
Tisha B’Av: Havdala When Tisha B’av is on Saturday Night
The Shabbat Meals When Shabbat is the Day Before Tisha B’Ab
When Does One Remove His Leather Shoes When Tisha B’Ab Begins on Mosa’eh Shabbat?
Should Children Under the Age of Bar Misva Fast on Tisha B’Ab?
The Nine Days – May One Eat Meat That is Left Over From Shabbat?
Mosa’eh Tisha B’Ab
Tisha B’Ab – Applying Skin Creams, Perfume and Deodorant
Tisha B’av: The Foods (Fish) At Seudat Hamafseket and the Seudah If One is Not Fasting on Tisha B’av
Tisha B’av- Showering During the Week of Tisha B’av
Tisha B’Ab – The Prohibition of Studying Torah
Freshly-Laundered Clothing When Tisha B’Ab Falls on Sunday
If a Boy Becomes Bar-Misva on Sunday, the 10th of Ab
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found