A person of higher rank can gift the host with his or her presence by agreeing to break bread together. The action implies recognition that, at least in basic needs, both parties are equally human and must eat to survive. Furthermore, when it comes to basic humanity, no food is unworthy and all offers to share are equal. Rejecting an invitation to eat may imply an unwillingness to acknowledge the host as basically equal or valued as a human being. In the modern Western world, hospitality has taken on different connotations.
Westerners tend to see receiving guests as part of creating relationships.
We entertain family and friends and those whom we wish to cultivate as friends rather than opening our homes to strangers. Our care for strangers tends to be monetary rather than personal. While there are things to be said for this approach, it lacks the moral centrality of the view of hospitality John Koenig traces to ancient Greece and the Near East. When guests or hosts violate the obligations to each other, the whole world shakes and retribution follows. A mal Barkouki-Winter is a psychologist and a founding member of the Arab American Institute's National Policy Council.