Sources and Reasoning:
The Custom of Chanukat HaBayit
It is the custom of the holy people of Israel to hold a Chanukat HaBayit upon entering a new home, and we find several allusions to this in the words of Chazal. In the Torah, Devarim 20:5, it is written: “The officers shall speak to the people, saying: Who is the man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his home, lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it.”
Likewise, we find in the Jerusalem Talmud, Sotah 8:4: “One who brings into his house belongings that require safeguarding and locks the house is considered as one who has dedicated it and begun residing in the dwelling.”
And in Midrash Tanchuma, Bereishit 2, it is stated that when the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, He created it in six days and rested on the seventh day; He blessed and sanctified the seventh day, like a person who built his house, completed his work, and made a festival day.
With regard to halachah as well, we find that the poskim disagree whether a Chanukat HaBayit meal is considered a seudat mitzvah or not. See Magen Avraham, Orach Chaim 568:3, and Responsa Torah Lishmah, siman 484, among others.
The Words of the Heichali Pamphlet Explaining the Reason for Chanukat HaBayit
Many reasons have been given to explain Chanukat HaBayit. In the Heichali pamphlet, Beit HaAdam, he elaborated with sound reasoning on the purpose of Chanukat HaBayit, and wrote that even one who rents a house should perform Chanukat HaBayit in light of these reasons. The substance of the words of the eminent Rabbi Yitzchak Alfiyah, zt”l, is as follows:
The tikkun is for the benefit of the members of the household who come to dwell in the home, for their protection and rescue from harmful forces found in an empty house. As is written in Sefer Tov Taam, page 32, Parashat Eikev, concerning the verse, “Lest the beasts of the field multiply against you”: Are wild animals more formidable than people? The Jewish people defeated people, who possess intelligence and military strategies; all the more so should they defeat wild animals. Rather, “beasts of the field” refers to harmful forces over which human beings have no power.
He further added that even if the house had not previously been empty, but people had lived there—and even if the previous residents of that house were righteous and G-d-fearing, and even if the person now coming to live there is righteous and G-d-fearing—nevertheless, since often, in previous gilgulim, a person’s soul was in a body that was not so good and angered its Creator through ugly deeds, and was not pleasing before Hashem, or an ignoramus lived in this place, there is a concern that the Sitra Achra may awaken there to harm him, as brought in Tikkunei HaZohar, Tikkun 64. Therefore, it is good to precede the remedy through Torah study, giving tzedakah, and the appropriate meal, as explained below. Through the merit of these three matters, the mitzvah will protect those dwelling in the home from all evil afflictions.
Therefore, even one who comes to live in a rented house is well advised to hold a Chanukat HaBayit with Torah, a meal, and tzedakah. This is especially so if people who were not G-d-fearing lived there; the house should be rectified in every respect. So too did the righteous kabbalist Rabbi Mordechai Sharabi, zt”l, advise: to hold a Chanukat HaBayit even for those living in rented accommodations.
One Who Leaves His Home and Returns Does Not Need to Perform Chanukat HaBayit
Despite what was stated by the eminent Rabbi Yitzchak Alfiyah, we do not find anyone who says that one who leaves his home for a certain period and leaves it empty must hold a Chanukat HaBayit upon returning home. The reason is that the house is not considered empty when it is left for a short period, especially when the residents intend to return to it, and especially when they come from time to time to take belongings and the like.
In all matters of segulah, danger, and safeguarding life, it is a principle in our hands that we need not be concerned about that which we do not find written.
One Who Was Evacuated from His Home for an Extended Period and Returned Is Considered a New Creation, as Though He Came in a New Gilgul
However, in light of the continuation of the words of the eminent Rabbi Yitzchak Alfiyah, cited below, there is room to view returning home after an extended period during which its residents were evacuated as a new beginning, and to arrange for the returning residents a tikkun karet and/or pidyon nefesh, and to repent fully. This is unrelated to Chanukat HaBayit itself.
For the eminent Rabbi Yitzchak Alfiyah wrote that some have the custom, when moving residence, to perform a tikkun karet and pidyon for themselves and their household, in order to atone for their sins and be protected from all kinds of destructive forces. This is because at the time of moving residence, through the upheaval of moving from house to house, the residents are considered as though they have come in a new gilgul into this world and become a new creation without any blemish, as written in the holy Zohar, Parashat Pinchas, page 216a. Therefore, it is proper at this time to repent and to regard oneself as though one is a new creation.
This response was translated automatically from Hebrew and has not yet been reviewed by a person. Therefore, it may contain inaccuracies and should not be considered a definitive reference.
