Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
November 21/22, 2025 • 2 Kislev 5786 • Toldot (Gen 25-28).
Wishing a refuah shleimah (complete convalescence) to Chaya bas Yehudis.
Do you know anyone who would NOT like to leave a legacy in the world?
Even people who put death into the same bucket as taxes — as something to avoid at all cost — realize that the piper shall be paid.
What I mean to say is — you can try to ignore it, but it's always there.
Here's the eternal problem: how much time do you have left?
If you go by statistics, you probably (hopefully) have at the very least many years left. So maybe there's no urgency to thinking about and planning your legacy right now? What do you think?
The Talmud thinks otherwise: Prepare for death one day before you die. - Avos 2:10
I put a hospitality tent above because I'm inspired by our patriarch Yaakov (Jacob) who is described as a yoshev ohalim - one who resides in tents. What kinds of tents? Some say, tents of wisdom, of learning. I.e., he learned in his father Yitzchak's tent and his grandfather Avraham's tent.
Others say, he was emulating his grandfather - Avraham - who is described as yoshev pesach ha-ohel - sitting in the doorway of the tent in order to offer hospitality to passers-by.
In other words, Yaakov has taken up and even expanded the family hospitality business.
Either way - or perhaps both ways - there is a legacy - of wisdom and hospitality. When we pursue these two missions, we are both giving our parents and grandparents a legacy and ensuring our own.
Question for your Shabbat table: Which is a more important legacy to create/leave - wisdom or hospitality?
Shabbat Shalom
Wishing a refuah shleimah (complete convalescence) to Chaya bas Yehudis.
Do you know anyone who would NOT like to leave a legacy in the world?Even people who put death into the same bucket as taxes — as something to avoid at all cost — realize that the piper shall be paid.
What I mean to say is — you can try to ignore it, but it's always there.
Here's the eternal problem: how much time do you have left?
If you go by statistics, you probably (hopefully) have at the very least many years left. So maybe there's no urgency to thinking about and planning your legacy right now? What do you think?
The Talmud thinks otherwise: Prepare for death one day before you die. - Avos 2:10
I put a hospitality tent above because I'm inspired by our patriarch Yaakov (Jacob) who is described as a yoshev ohalim - one who resides in tents. What kinds of tents? Some say, tents of wisdom, of learning. I.e., he learned in his father Yitzchak's tent and his grandfather Avraham's tent.
Others say, he was emulating his grandfather - Avraham - who is described as yoshev pesach ha-ohel - sitting in the doorway of the tent in order to offer hospitality to passers-by.
In other words, Yaakov has taken up and even expanded the family hospitality business.
Either way - or perhaps both ways - there is a legacy - of wisdom and hospitality. When we pursue these two missions, we are both giving our parents and grandparents a legacy and ensuring our own.
Question for your Shabbat table: Which is a more important legacy to create/leave - wisdom or hospitality?
Shabbat Shalom
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