‘Maxed Out’ is Rubashkin’s MO With Tishrei Accommodations

Overbooked…if you’ve been hosting in Crown Heights for a while, you’ve no doubt been there.

You’re at your maximum hosting limit, maybe even beyond capacity, and then you discover that another couple, another family, maybe a few more bochurim, have somehow made their way onto your guest list.

Perhaps this phenomenon has impacted your home this very Tishrei.

You pick up some extra challahs, figure out new sleeping arrangements, squeeze another table into the sukkah–whatever it takes, because these are your guests. Maybe you even manage to do it with a smile. These are your values…but, deep down, you can’t ignore the truth: hachnasas orchim isn’t comfortable.

While most of us are measuring the impact of impromptu guests in terms of what we had to pull out of the freezer, Reb Moshe Rubashkin’s metrics are the volume of ingredients delivered by the pallet and how many additional bathrooms and kitchens he has constructed in his home to accommodate his guests.

But that’s why Avraham Avinu’s Tent is a Crown Heights communal affair.

Moshe Rubashkin has turned his home into the community’s overflow hachnasas orchim center for the benefit of every single member of the community. The Rebbe’s Orchim are the guests of the Rebbe’s shechuna, which means their accommodations are the concern of Anash throughout Crown Heights (and beyond).

“This is what the Rebbe wants from me,” explains Rubashkin. “The Rebbe wanted the Orchim to be cared for in Crown Heights, so that’s what we’re here to do. All of this is for the community, it’s for the Orchim, because it’s all about the Rebbe. We can’t stop pushing our limits because we’re working for the Rebbe.”

Picture your home, booked to capacity. Now 10x the number of guests. Now 50x. It’s still a fraction of the number of people the Rubashkin residence has served to date in תשפ”ה alone, and we’re not even halfway through Tishrei. Between the crowds of people coming and going at all hours, the maintenance, the trash stacking up, the sukkah arrangements, the demands in the kitchen–most homes couldn’t even entertain the idea, much less the people.

Avraham Avinu’s Tent might be past capacity for a typical household, but the Rubashkin home has launched itself beyond the realm of residences. This is a full-blown community center. Rubashkin has turned “maxed out” into a veritable modus operandi: where most people’s hosting capacity ends, Reb Moshe is just getting warmed up.

So, in some ways, to say the Rubashkin residence is “maxed out” is definitely an understatement. It’s a Brooklyn brownstone for goodness’ sake!

For a shliach, this understatement is an underestimate.

He’s gone overboard, alright–l’chatchila arriber.

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