GEN892 Let the poor be members of your household.   Pirkei Avot I:5  … The word ani means not only “poor” in the strictly financial sense. A man may be wealthy and still be an ani. Does not King David cry out, “I am poor and suffering!” Psalms 69:30 – and surely David possessed great wealth. Any man who is in need is, in regard to that need, poor. A man who is depressed and needs cheering; a lonely person in need of a friend; one who has a problem and needs advice – for all these who seek the warmth of friendship and sympathetic counsel, “let your house be open wide.” The Hebrew word which we translate as “wide,” r’vahah, also means “profit.” There is no word in our vocabulary which is so evocative of a sense of earnestness and efficiency, dispatch and self-sacrifice, as the word “business.” Consider the expressions, “He means business”; “a business-like manner”; “business is business.”   Now, for the authentic Jew, observance of Torah is his true, his only business. Recall how perturbed our father Abraham was when no travellers appeared, to whose wants he could minister. [In Scripture we read about Abraham, “The Lord appeared to him … as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day” [this verse] Rashi comments: “He sat in the tent door, to see if anyone came passing by, whom he could bring into his house” – to provide hospitality; this is the Midrashic view that we find in Avoth d’Rabbi Nathan, B14, and Midrash haGadol on the verse (See Torah Shelemah on the verse §§20, 23. Rashi continues: “In the heat of the day: The Holy One took the sun out of its sheath [so to speak], that he should not be troubled with guests [in the intense heat Abraham would find no one on whom to lavish hospitality]. But because He saw that he was so distressed that no [potential] guests came, He brought the angels to him in the guise of men” (verse 2). This is based on a passage in Talmud Baba Metzia 86b, and is stated expressly in Midrash Aggada p. 39.] ] These were Abraham’s “customers” ; and why  should he not be unhappy when “business” was so bad that day! Bearing this in mind, we can now interpret our teaching: Let your home be open for profit-making. Your entire approach to the mitzvah of hospitality should be with the same verve, spirit of dedication and punctiliousness with which you do your business. Let your home be open for the spiritual “profits” implicit in this mitzvah, for the divine blessings in store for those who fulfill it.   Included in this teaching is the principle of being generally accessible to others. The urge for privacy in our day has become almost a craze. Impassable secretaries, unlisted telephone numbers, and stuffy doormen are all signs of the times. The Mishnah, however, urges us to be available to the poor, accessible to those in need. Let your home be open lir’vahah: the word also means “for relief” – for aid and deliverance.   SINAI1 57-8