Hospitality, Hostility and the Issues of Interiority and Secrecy. Vu de chez soi : hospitalité, hostilité et questions d’intériorité et de secret.

Résumé

L’hospitalité en tant que valeur est issue des traditions religieuses, qu’elles soient grecques et romaines, incarnées par le Nouveau Testament ou la Bible hébraïque. Leur force prescriptive reste le fondement de la vision de l’hospitalité toujours actuelle, constituant ainsi l’autre pôle d’une tension entre l’hospitalité comme valeur, et l’hospitalité comme pratique moderne. Cette tension entre valeur et pratique moderne sera abordée dans ce chapitre à travers les expériences vécues et les approches éthiques et pratiques de la Bible hébraïque. Il est difficile d’être hospitalier. Les punitions pour les infractions aux lois de l’hospitalité sont la preuve que cette obligation est une épreuve pour l’hôte comme pour la personne accueillie. J’ai développé le concept d’hospitalité comme la grande épreuve de notre façon d’habiter et en fait, la grande aventure dans le processus de se sentir chez-soi (Serfaty, 2016). Pourquoi l’hospitalité est-elle la grande épreuve de notre façon d’habiter ? Quel est l’enjeu du risque de dérive de l’hospitalité vers l’hostilité ? Je répondrai à cette question en définissant et en approfondissant l’expérience du fait d’habiter et les enjeux de l’intériorité et du secret chez les habitants. La conclusion de ce chapitre nous ramènera à la tradition juive concernant les liens intimes entre la maison, l’hospitalité et le voyage, à travers l’exploration des multiples significations emblématiques d’une des lettres de son alphabet, la lettre B (bet) et de la mezouzah, le morceau de parchemin enfermé dans un étui qui est placé sur les montants des portes des maisons juives.

Abstract
Hospitality as a value originates from religious traditions, be they Greek and Roman, embodied by the New Testament or the Hebrew Bible. Their prescriptive force remains as the foundation of the view of hospitality still ongoing today in the Jewish tradition, thus constituting the other pole of the tension between hospitality as a value, and hospitality as modern practice. This pole of values will be addressed through the ethical and practical lived experiences and approaches of the Hebrew Bible. It is difficult to be hospitable. Punishments for breaches of the laws of hospitality amount to acknowledging this obligation as a trial for both hosted and welcoming host. I have developed the concept of hospitality as the great trial of and, indeed, the great adventure of dwelling (Serfaty, 2016). Why is hospitality the great trial of dwelling? What is at stake in the risk of hospitality drifting into hostility? I will address that question by defining and further exploring the experience of dwelling and the issues of the inhabitants’ interiority and secrecy. The conclusion of this chapter will take us back to the Jewish tradition regarding the intimate links between home, hospitality and journeying, through the exploration of the multiple emblematic meanings of one of the letters of its alphabet, the letter B (bet) and of the mezuzah, the piece of parchment enclosed in a case that is placed on the doorposts of Jewish homes.

First Lines:
Hospitality is an act of meeting and mutual recognition which requires at least two people and a space for the meeting to take place. That place is called home, whether it refers to a built dwelling, a neighborhood, a city, a country or the earth. Hospitality is one of the highest moral virtues, and a part of our living humanistic worldview. Indeed, few ever confess that they are not hospitable. It carries such a powerful evocative force that it is generally assumed that a warm welcome is synonym for hospitality.

Yet, in our daily lives—and in the life of the country we live in—we also carefully ensure, that an elaborate set of time, spatial, and moral rules of hospitality are followed by both hosting and hosted hosts, before, during and even after the encounter. Such rules, we feel, help secure our homes, thus inevitably recognizing there is a risk, if not a danger, of confrontation or hostility between both hosts. The tension between, on the one hand, the highest moral order and ethical risk-taking, and on the other hand, the practical risk of a drift from the positive experience of hospitality and open hostility between hosts, is, one hopes, implicitly resolved by the rules of hospitality which are supposed to tame and limit open hostility, as well as confine hostility to a latent state, while leaving room for at least temporary welcome. The home, where hospitality and the prevention of its potential drift into hostility take place, is the main stake in the encounter between hosts, as shown by the careful setting and enforcement of material and symbolic markers of hospitality regulation and dynamics. Such markers and movements taking place in near-home territories and inside the home constitute one of the poles of the tension between hospitality as an “absolute” value, and hospitality in action, generating a series of events geared towards the hoped-for resolution of that tension. We will first focus our attention on the actions and events of this pole in order to grasp their meanings, scope and repercussions on the dynamics of the hosting and hosted host relationship.

Read More:

https://journals.openedition.org/ilcea/16152

https://doi.org/10.4000/ilcea.16152

Plan

1. The dynamics of hospitality regulation
2. Hospitality in the Jewish tradition
3. Abraham
4. Dwelling, interiority and separation
5. ב The letter bet (b): Shelter, interiority and hospitality
6. The mezuzah: Inhabiting and journeying