Shabbat 126b: Moving baskets on Shabbat

Maharal, Chidushei Agadot, Shabbat 127a

Rav Yehudah Lowe, Prague 1512-1603

Hospitality to guests and the study of Torah are both Godly pursuits. When one extends hospitality to guests, he is welcoming human beings who are created in God’s Image. This is in essence a Godly activity, just as one who arises early to attend the Beit HaMedrash in order to study Torah is engaged in a Godly pursuit. We see this in the teaching of the Sages, where the Torah and the Godly nature of human beings are equated: “Beloved is man, for he is created in the Divine Image. Beloved are the Children of Israel, for they have been given the precious tool [i.e. Torah] (Pirkei Avot 4:14).”...

–There is a more complete connection with the Divine Image in a person, than with the Divine Presence itself. Rav Yehudah maintains that hospitality is even greater than receiving the Divine Presence. The reason for this is that although it is possible, to a certain extent, to connect with the Divine Presence, this relationship is somewhat limited, for there is, after all, an unbridgeable distance between man and God. As God Himself tells us: “No human can see My face and live” (Shemot/ Exodus 33:20). However, it is different regarding hosting a human guest whom one honors and has fondness for. One can connect completely with the Image of God that is in this person. In this way, hospitality is greater than receiving the Divine Presence, because connection with the Divine Presence is limited [but connecting with the Divine Image embodied by a person is complete. In other words, through connecting with a person’s Divine aspect, one connects more closely with God Himself.] ... You must know that all of this refers specifically to welcoming guests [as opposed to other forms of showing care and respect for the Divine Image of human beings], for it is specifically by the act of welcoming a human being into a new setting that one displays true honor for the Divine Image.