The Perfect Houseguests...

If staying at someone's home were an Olympic sport, the family of Rabbi Shmuel and Dr. Rhanni Herzfeld would take the Gold (even from the east German judge) in their category.

In my book, there are 4 categories.

1. Adults w/no kids who are visiting you
2. Adults w/kids who are visiting you
3. Adults w/no kids who are staying with you but are visiting another family
4. Adults w/kids who are staying with you but are visiting another family

Note: it is common in a religious Jewish community for families to host the guests of a family having a Bar-Mitzvah, for example. Their guests wish to join in the celebration and are not able to drive. Usually, hotels are not an option, so other members of the community provide beds.

The Herzfelds were in Group #4, in town for their nephew's Bar-Mitzvah.

Here's why they were tremendous guests. Please keep in mind, they have 4 children.

Very Low Maintenance
They arrived shortly before the Sabbath began. Their kids were already dressed for the synagogue. They came in, dropped off their one bag, and left. They were probably there for 15 minutes.

After leaving around 8:30am for synagogue in the morning on Saturday, we didn't see them until after the Sabbath was over (6:10pm) and at that, it was only 10 minutes as Rhanni came in and gathered up their stuff. Everyone else was out in the car waiting patiently.

Respectful
They returned around 8.45pm or so. Tamar and I were in bed. Had I not heard the door open, I never would have known that six people were going through my front hall and down into the basement. The quiet was unbelievable!

Thoughtful
Their 12 month old got up at 6am or so and went up into the playroom with their eldest daughter, Leah. And you know what Leah did while she was up there? She cleaned up and organized the toys!

And, in Rhanni's whirlwind packing process, she somehow managed to strip all of the beds, fold the blankets, pile everything in one place and put the room back in even better shape than she found it! It literally took me about 5 minutes afterwards to complete the job (and that was only b/c I had moved the exercise equipment into another room).

They've set the new standard.

With Nana's death this week, I've been thinking a lot about living a life with dignity and making people feel that way about you.

In my mind, the way the Herzfelds chose to be a guest in our home exemplifies that at every step.

And you know what's funny about this? We really like them and would have been happy to hang out with them. That's probably the only demerit they get. We didn't see enough of them! Of course, better to leave your hosts that way than the alternative.