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...
Wearing the Shoes of a Deceased Person; Sleeping with Shoes; Wearing Shoes on the Wrong Feet
Hanging Flags in the Synagogue
The Parochet – The Curtain Outside the Aron
Birkat Ha’hama: One Who Sees the Sun Through Eyeglasses, or Who Sees Only a Reflection; Looking at Someone Named Abraham While Reciting the Beracha
Reciting Birkat Ha’hama Indoors and in an Airplane; Reciting Birkat Ha’hama During Mourning
Training Children to Recite Birkat Ha’hama; Customs for After Birkat Ha’hama
Should Women Recite Birkat Ha’hama?
Reciting She’heheyanu Over Birkat Ha’hama
If a Berit Mila is Performed on the Day of Birkat Ha’hama; Reciting Birkat Ha’hama Before Birkat Ha’ilanot
Reciting Birkat Ha’hama Before Shaharit
Reciting Birkat Ha’hama on a Cloudy Day
Eating Before Reciting Birkat Ha’hama
Birkat Ha’hama- I
How Early in the Month May One Recite Birkat Halebana?
Respecting Parents-in-Law
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found