Hospitality - Rabbi Yeshayahu Hertzel shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast of Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 Hello to all our listeners. Today I’m speaking about hachnasas orchim, welcoming guests. Like the other laws and mitzvos in the Torah, this mitzvah and its laws have sources, details, customs, and stories of tzaddikim connected with them. I want to emphasize that stories of tzaddikim are also very important. We’ve just come through Chanukah, and not everyone notices that in the middle of the Amidah, in the middle of Modim, we tell the story of the deeds of Matityahu son of Yochanan the Kohen Gadol. How does a story find its way into the middle of Shemoneh Esrei? Well, it teaches us that stories of tzaddikim are valuable and very important in educating—Chanukah—children, adults, and ourselves. Let me get to the subject: welcoming guests. Every day in davening, in the morning blessings, we say: “These are things that have no fixed measure: leaving the corner of the field for the poor, bringing first fruits, appearing at the Beis Hamikdash, acts of kindness, and Torah study. And these are things whose fruits a person enjoys in this world while the principal remains for the World to Come: honoring one’s father and mother, acts of kindness, arriving early at the study hall morning and evening, visiting the sick, and welcoming guests.” Welcoming guests is mentioned here too, among the things that have no fixed measure. We say it every day. This passage that we say every day is actually divided into two parts: “These are things that have no fixed measure,” and then, “These are things whose fruits a person enjoys.” The Mishnah in Tractate Peah contains only the first part; the second part is assembled from other sources, in Tractate Kiddushin and Tractate Shabbos, as we’ll note later, with Hashem’s help. Those are the sources. Now, we learn in the Mishnah in Tractate Shabbos, page 126b: “One may move even four or five baskets of straw or grain for the sake of guests or to prevent an interruption of study in the study hall.” Stores of

02:29 Speaker 2 straw or grain may be moved on Shabbos if I need the space to seat guests, to fulfill the mitzvah of welcoming guests. That’s what the Mishnah says. The Gemara continues: “For the sake of guests—Rabbi Yochanan said: Welcoming guests is as great as arriving early at the study hall.” The wording is precise: the Mishnah says “for the sake of guests or to prevent an interruption of study in the study hall,” placing them on a par. Rav Dimi of Neharde’a said it is greater than arriving early at the study hall. Why? Because guests are mentioned first, and only afterward the interruption of study in the study hall. The Gemara goes on: “Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: Welcoming guests is greater than receiving the Divine Presence, as it is written, ‘He said: My L-rd, if I have found favor in Your eyes, please do not pass by Your servant.’” That was when Avraham Avinu spoke as Hakadosh Boruch Hu came to visit him—a visit to the sick. “Do not pass by.” He went to receive the guests and left the Divine Presence standing and waiting. The Gemara continues: “Rav Yehudah bar Sheila said in the name of Rabbi Asi, in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: There are six things whose fruits a person enjoys in this world while the principal remains for the World to Come. They are welcoming guests, visiting the sick, thoughtful prayer, and arriving early at the study hall.” So that is the source in the Gemara concerning welcoming guests. Comparing it to Torah study also teaches us that a person’s Torah study has no value—no truly great value—if it isn’t accompanied by sensitivity to others. Torah study is not a matter of personal intellectual, spiritual, and moral development. An individual’s Torah study comes from being one part of the Jewish people, connected to all of Israel rather than standing alone as an individual. “Who chose us from among all the nations”—and afterward, “gave us His Torah.” That is very important to know. When a guest arrives and feels like a stranger in a new place, unfamiliar with the way of life there,

04:41 Speaker 2 if a person is insensitive to that, his Torah is not Torah. We learned that welcoming guests is greater than receiving the Divine Presence. Here Avraham Avinu is standing and speaking with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Who has appeared to him, and in the middle of it he sees three men approaching. Perhaps they have no food? Perhaps they’ve lost their way? In such a situation, he cannot simply continue speaking with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, with the Divine Presence. Avraham understands that if he is not sensitive to others, he cannot receive the Divine Presence. So he asks, “Please do not pass by Your servant.” After tending to the guests and fulfilling his basic duty as a human being, he can return to speaking with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There is another Gemara on this subject, in Tractate Chagigah. What we learned was mainly from Tractate Shabbos, page 127; interestingly, in Chagigah it’s page 27. The Gemara on page 27 says that a table around which a person hosts guests is comparable to the altar in the Beis Hamikdash, and the food served to guests is comparable to the offerings brought on the altar. Again, a Gemara about the importance of welcoming guests. But some say that we should understand that the welcoming of guests described as greater than receiving the Divine Presence refers to poor guests who have nothing to eat. A wealthy person who finds himself somewhere with nowhere to eat is also, at that moment, considered poor in this respect. But local guests who live nearby and have food to eat are not included in this level of welcoming guests. Why? Because they are close to a place where they can eat. Of course, even if hosting people who live nearby does not fulfill this particular mitzvah of welcoming guests, we certainly should not dismiss its importance. There is special value in receiving friends with a warm expression and in a friendly way. It increases the love between them, and all of this is part of the mitzvah to “love your fellow as yourself.” The truth is

07:03 Speaker 2 that the question of hosting guests, whether they have money or not, is very interesting. When the Rambam discusses the mitzvah of welcoming guests, principally in the Laws of Mourning, chapter 14, law 1, he presents it as part of “love your fellow as yourself.” There he does not specify that the guests have nothing to eat. On the other hand, at the end of the Laws of Things Forbidden for the Altar, the Rambam writes: “The same applies to anything done for the sake of the good G-d: it should come from what is fine and good. When one feeds a hungry person, one should give him the best and sweetest food on one’s table. And so it says, ‘All the choicest fat is for Hashem.’” So here, feeding a hungry person falls under “All the choicest fat is for Hashem,” according to the Rambam—or so it would seem. There’s another point. There are mitzvos that, if a person performs them sadly, the mitzvah is fulfilled nonetheless. But a mitzvah between one person and another, including welcoming guests, loses almost all its value if it is done without a loving attitude toward the other person. So someone who wants to fulfill the mitzvah of welcoming guests must, of course, love the guests and want what is best for them and for their dignity. He should receive them joyfully and try to meet their needs; and if he sees that they are sad, he should comfort them with words. That is part of welcoming guests. The following story appears in the books: A Jew once related that after World War II, a refugee came to their home, and they hosted him for several days. On Shabbos, they honored the guest with leading Birkat Hamazon. When he reached the passage “Have mercy, Hashem our G-d,” and said the prayer, “Do not make us dependent, Hashem our G-d, on gifts from flesh and blood or on their loans, but only on Your full, open, holy, and generous hand, so that we will not be ashamed or humiliated,” the guest could not hold back his tears and burst into sobs. It was an example of the suffering he had endured.

09:19 Speaker 2 what the guest is going through. That is why our Sages said it is not enough to serve a good meal; you also have to make him happy and put him at ease. That is very important. The mitzvah of hospitality does not end with welcoming the guest, feeding him, putting him at ease and honoring him, as we have discussed so far. It also includes accompanying him when he leaves. That is part of the mitzvah. Our Sages say: “Anyone who accompanies his friend even four cubits will not come to harm.” Four cubits. Accompanying someone is a very great mitzvah. The act itself shows the guest that his host loves him and finds it hard to part from him. This is especially important when the guest leaves wondering whether he was a burden on his host, whether perhaps he was not really wanted. But when he sees his host come out and walk with him, he leaves with a good feeling: they really were happy to have him and cared about him. That is one aspect of accompanying a guest as part of the mitzvah of hospitality. But there is something else as well: it is a segulah for protection on the road. As the Sma writes: “Come and see how great the power of the mitzvah of accompanying a guest is. Both the one who accompanies and the one who is accompanied are protected from harm all day.” He is protected all day from all sorts of misfortunes. He leaves a settled place for an unsettled one, where he is exposed to various dangers; the road itself is less safe. His emotional and spiritual state may be less secure too. So when the host accompanies the guest at the start of his journey, walking part of it with him, it is as though the guest is not setting out alone: “I am with you. I am protecting you the whole time.” He will not come to harm. According to halachah, one should accompany a guest at least four cubits beyond one’s property. Some people also accompany the guest at least with their eyes, watching until he is out of sight. Accompanying a guest is a very significant thing. We saw this also with

11:44 Speaker 2 the Rebbe. When guests came and then left to continue on their way, the Rebbe would come out and watch them, and only go back inside when they were out of sight. There is a mitzvah involved in accompanying someone like that. I want to point out that this matter of accompanying a guest is brought by the Rambam. Let me quote what he says in the Laws of Mourning, which I mentioned earlier. In chapter 14, halachah 1, the Rambam writes: “It is a positive mitzvah instituted by the Sages to visit the sick, comfort mourners, attend to the deceased, help a bride enter the wedding canopy, and accompany guests. Although all these mitzvos were instituted by the Sages, they are included in ‘Love your fellow as yourself.’” They are included in the mitzvah of “Love your fellow as yourself.” What does that mean? Whatever you would want others to do for you, do for your brother in Torah and mitzvos. Here the emphasis is on accompanying guests. The Rambam does not even mention hospitality itself; he writes only about accompanying guests. Some commentators explain why he specifies accompanying them here: visiting the sick and the other things he lists are mitzvos one performs personally, and the part of hospitality that one performs personally is accompanying the guest. But it encompasses the mitzvah of hospitality. Then, in halachah 2, the Rambam gives more detail about hospitality itself. He says: “The reward for accompanying a guest is greater than for all the rest. This is the practice established by Avraham our father, the path of kindness he followed: he fed wayfarers, gave them drink and accompanied them.” So he mentions feeding them, then giving them drink, then accompanying them. “Hospitality is greater than receiving the Divine Presence, as it says, ‘He looked up and saw three men,’ and so on. Accompanying guests is greater than welcoming them.” He concludes, actually in halachah 3: “The Sages said: Anyone who does not accompany a guest is considered as though he shed blood.” In halachah 3 he says: “A person can be compelled to accompany a guest, just as he can be compelled to give tzedakah.” So the point we have just been discussing is very significant: there is also a mitzvah to accompany a guest.

13:55 Speaker 2 I want to point out that if we learn hospitality from Avraham our father and his guests in Parshas Vayeira, then clearly hospitality means giving guests physical food and spiritual nourishment too. It is all part of the mitzvah of hospitality. As it says later in the parsha, “He planted an eishel in Be’er Sheva.” An eishel may be a tree, but Rashi also says it was an inn: food, drink and accompaniment. This is what Avraham our father, the source of kindness, provided. And what did Avraham do through this eishel? The verse says, “He planted an eishel in Be’er Sheva and called there in the name of Hashem, G-d of the world.” Do not read “he called,” but “he caused others to call.” After a person came and ate, Avraham our father would tell him, “You need to bless Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” If the person started asking, “What? Who? Why?” Avraham our father would, as is well known, tell him to pay, or charge him a very large sum. After all, this was in the desert; everything cost two or three times as much there. Eventually the person would offer a blessing—he would bless Hashem. Now, there is an obvious question: this seems coercive. What good is his blessing if he says it under compulsion? But the Rebbe explains that deep down, they wanted to offer a blessing. It was only the kelipah that concealed that desire and prevented them from doing so. Through Avraham our father’s words and his firm conduct with them, he simply removed their outer kelipah, revealing their inner point: they truly wanted to bless Hashem. So Avraham our father planted the eishel in Be’er Sheva to bring people to bless Hashem. There is a story about a disciple of the Toldos—the disciple of the Maggid and the Baal Shem Tov, the Toldos Yaakov Yosef—who came to the Noda BiYehudah. It is known that the Noda BiYehudah would not bring in the book of his teacher, the Toldos Yaakov Yosef, of the Maggid of Mezritch.

16:17 Speaker 2 During a conversation about the Baal Shem Tov, the Noda BiYehudah asked the Toldos: “How great is the mitzvah of hospitality?” The man answered, “Hospitality is greater than receiving the Divine Presence.” The Noda BiYehudah asked him, “How did Avraham our father know that it was greater? How did he know?” The man replied that Hashem had to bring the sun out of its sheath so that Avraham would not go out to welcome guests. If receiving the Divine Presence were greater, Avraham would not leave the Divine Presence, and the very fact that Hashem brought the sun out of its sheath shows that hospitality is greater. The Noda BiYehudah asked the Toldos, “Where did you get that answer?” He replied, “From my Rebbe, from my Rebbe.” So the Noda BiYehudah took the Toldos’s book and kissed it. There are further details concerning hospitality. As we know, the signs of a kosher animal are split hooves and chewing the cud. People say that these signs apply to the mitzvah of hospitality as well: the host sits down with the guest, breaks bread with him and chews along with him. He does not leave him alone. That is part of the mitzvah of hospitality. So we see those signs here too. Of course, despite the importance of sitting and eating together, there are times when one should also leave the guest to sit alone and give him a little room to breathe. Some guests are embarrassed to eat in their host’s presence. Being sensitive to that is also part of the mitzvah of hospitality. The host needs to welcome each guest according to the guest’s own outlook and circumstances. There is an even higher level of welcoming guests: not appearing to be the host at all, so that people would think one of the guests was the host. There is a similar story about my grandfather, my mother’s father. They lived—at first they lived, my grandparents

18:39 Speaker 2 They lived in Hebron, then in the Old City, then in Mekor Chaim, and they were known for their extraordinary hospitality. Their guests included ordinary people and tzaddikim alike. Once they heard several guests sitting together and saying to one another, “It’s so nice to eat here. The host is never around.” They didn’t know the host was sitting right beside them. Grandfather was sitting there eating with them, but he never presented himself as the host. So they said, “It’s nice that the host isn’t here,” as it were. That is an important level of hospitality. Yes, another point about guests. It says, “Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day.” Rashi says he was looking to see whether there were passersby whom he could bring into his home. Some explain that “passersby” refers to people who committed transgressions: he brought them close to Hashem. That is the meaning of “passersby whom he could bring back”—people who transgressed, whom he could bring back to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. These are people who need help. It is brought in the holy books, one of them by a Rebbe of Alexander. About forty-six—forty-five years ago, I went to see him with Chabad rabbis in connection with the question of “Who is a Jew?” He was the grandfather of the present Rebbe of Alexander. In discussing this verse, he cites Rabbi Yonasan ben Uziel, who explains that Avraham Avinu was just about to eat and invited the angels to join him then, and they agreed. He asks why Hakadosh Boruch Hu arranged for them to be his guests and eat with him at that particular time. He explains it with an interesting story. One of his saintly ancestors, a student of Rabbi Yitzchak of Vorka, had already been appointed a Rebbe in his youth. He lived in the town of Torchyn and still traveled to his own Rebbe. There, a certain chossid and his son became attached to him. One Shabbos, while he was in Torchyn, the man’s son came—the man had become attached to him

21:01 Speaker 2 for Shabbos, and unfortunately his mother fell ill there. She became ill there. He came to the beis midrash—he fell ill there, sorry, the son fell ill there, and his mother came to the beis midrash. She shouted that she would not leave until the Rebbe healed him: he had become ill while staying with the Rebbe, and the Rebbe had to cure him. What did the Rebbe do? He summoned a wagon driver and said, “We’re going.” When the woman saw them leaving, she thought he was trying to evade her and run away. She began shouting and went after them, but could not catch up. The Rebbe had intended to travel far away, but they stopped at a nearby place. What happened there? A man saw him and recognized that he was a tzaddik. He invited the tzaddik into his home for a cup of tea. The Rebbe agreed. After drinking, the tzaddik told the wagon driver, “Now we can go back home.” When he got home, he learned that the boy had already recovered. What happened here? What’s the story? What happened? So they asked the tzaddik what he had done. He ran away. He didn’t run away; he stopped and went into someone’s home along the way. The tzaddik said, “I saw that I had no way to cure him. So I decided to travel far away, to a place where my friends live, and be their guest. The moment I became their guest, I would become an object of holiness. I would be a guest. There is a mitzvah of hospitality, so I would become an object of holiness. Once I was an object of holiness, I would have a special power to give a blessing.” That was his reasoning. “But when someone invited me in at the nearby village, I had already become their guest. I had already become a guest, an object of holiness, right then. So I went home, and everything was fine: the boy had recovered.” On that basis, he explains that Avraham Avinu was ill—it was the third day after his circumcision. He was looking for a way to obtain a blessing for his recovery,

23:14 Speaker 2 so he was glad to welcome guests. Why? The guests would become objects of holiness, and then they would bless him and he would recover. It’s the same idea, the same concept of an object of holiness. So we have learned something about the mitzvah of hospitality: the host fulfills a great mitzvah and benefits from it, and the guest benefits too, because he becomes an object of holiness. In fact, it is greater than receiving the Divine Presence. When one receives the Divine Presence, the recipient gains tremendously, but no change takes place in the Divine Presence. No change takes place. With hospitality, a change takes place in the guest: he becomes an object of holiness. This may also explain something interesting about the Alter Rebbe’s conduct when he was released from prison. As is known, after fifty-three days in prison, instead of entering the home of the chossid Reb Mordechai of Liepli, he entered the home of a misnaged and remained there for three hours. The Rebbe said that those three hours were worse than all fifty-three days. But in the end, while he sat there, they offered him a cup of tea, and he drank it. What did he say? “Out of respect for the host.” I remember the Rebbe speaking about this story to teach us the greatness of Ahavas Yisroel: although the Alter Rebbe said it was harder for him than the entire imprisonment, he nevertheless drank a cup of tea out of respect for his host. In light of what we have said, we might explain that, in addition to his greatness, he wanted to add another dimension by becoming an object of holiness. Once he was a guest, he would become an object of holiness. One could say that; one could explain it that way. One of the rabbis of Jerusalem happened to be a guest of the great Torah scholars in Bnei Brak. Once, late at night, he came to—I think it was the Chazon Ish. He arrived there at night. Well, he couldn’t go back to Jerusalem.

25:26 Speaker 2 It wasn’t like today. There was no transportation, so he thought he would stay in a synagogue. But they invited him into the house, and suddenly he saw the Steipler carrying the bed frame and the Chazon Ish carrying the bed. He said to them, “Why are you doing all this work yourselves? I can help.” They told him, “This is the first time we’ve seen the esrog—the object of holiness—offer us his opinions. You have no right to offer opinions. You are the guest. No opinions. This is our responsibility; it’s our mitzvah.” Yes. Sometimes there are challenges when guests come who are not very neat, or guests who are difficult. Hosting guests can present great challenges, especially on Shabbos. You want the home to be calm, quiet and peaceful, and it isn’t simple. When we were in Kfar Tavor, we ourselves had all sorts of guests who, on the Shabbos before Pesach, specifically wanted to eat bread in places that had already been cleaned for Pesach, and then to quarrel with them. Hospitality presents great challenges. But through being careful to welcome guests, even guests we would rather not have, we also merit to be rid of various problems—unwelcome guests like coronavirus, hurricanes, all the phenomena we are seeing today. These are unwelcome guests. I must mention a lovely story about an unwelcome guest. I don’t remember who it was. A tzaddik said to his son before his bar mitzvah, “You know you’re approaching your bar mitzvah. You’re about to receive an important guest. Have you prepared? You have to prepare to welcome the guest.” The boy said to his father, “Father, I’ve been preparing since I was little, since I was three years old.” “All right, then tell me...” [unclear] and laid them down on his bed; he gave his own bed to his guest. It is also known that there was a great tzaddik, Rabbi Shlomo

28:24 Speaker 2 [unclear]. All kinds of guests came to him. There are many stories about how they cared for guests with great generosity and love, even though they suffered because of them. The community suffered too. They asked people not to interfere, but to give the guests what they wanted. That is a high level. I can’t tell all the stories, and I don’t have time to go into another example. There is the well-known story of the holy Baal Shem Tov. His birth is connected to the mitzvah of welcoming guests. Once, his father, Rabbi Eliezer, was tested from Heaven: a guest arrived at his home on Shabbos night with a pack on his shoulders. Rabbi Eliezer didn’t say a word to him about it. He accepted him as he was, gave him food and drink, and put him to bed. In that merit, Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave him the beautiful gift of the Baal Shem Tov’s soul. Yes. It is told that afterward the guest revealed to his father, Rabbi Eliezer, that he was Eliyahu Hanavi, who had come to test his hospitality. From this, it would seem, we learn something astonishing: if Rabbi Eliezer had not welcomed that guest properly, all the light of Chassidus in the world might never have come to be. We merited all that light of Chassidus because of hospitality and kindness in general; through them, we merited the revelation of that great light. It is a wonderful thing. And since we are speaking about guests, I want to tell you about one of my ancestors, the Yismach Moshe. It is well known that he was always waiting and longing for Moshiach. There was a time when his son-in-law was away from home. The time came when he was due back, and they were waiting for him. One Erev Shabbos, the Yismach Moshe was in the mikveh. Then they told him, “He’s here, he’s here!” The Yismach Moshe rushed off to put on his clothes to welcome Moshiach. Suddenly he saw

30:33 Speaker 2 that the guest was his son-in-law. Well, he was happy to see him, but tears ran down his face. When someone says, “He has arrived,” he thought they mean the important guest—Moshiach. That is a story about the Yismach Moshe. And while we are speaking about hospitality, here are two more things about the Chofetz Chaim. He was carrying the bedding for a guest, and the guest said to him, “You could give that job to a non-Jew. Why are you doing it?” The Chofetz Chaim replied, “Should I give the great mitzvah of welcoming guests to a non-Jew?” It is also told that at a Shabbos night meal, he delayed saying Shalom Aleichem to the angels until after the fish course. Everyone was surprised that he hadn’t said Shalom Aleichem. He explained that he had seen that the guests were hungry, so he said, “The angels can wait. I’ll make Kiddush now.” And that is what he did. Another story tells of a guest who arrived on Erev Shabbos utterly exhausted and lay down to rest. The Chofetz Chaim told his family to eat, while he himself waited until the late hours of the night for the guest to wake up. Then he told the guest to daven, made Kiddush, and ate with him. The guest saw that it was already four in the morning and was amazed that the Chofetz Chaim had waited all that time for him. Speaking of waiting for guests—important guests—I had a grandmother, my mother’s mother, who lived in Dvinsk and was close to its two great rabbis, the Rogatchover Rav and the author of Ohr Somayach. Through her family she was close to the Rogatchover Rav, who was the Chassidic rav, but she also visited the home of the author of Ohr Somayach. She was always delighted to see the two rabbis leave shul together. It gave her great pleasure. She would say that in the town of Dvinsk, people had already washed and dressed by midday, ready to welcome the important guest, Shabbos, from the afternoon onward.

33:01 Speaker 2 Yes, it is important to point out that we must not overlook our own dear guests: our children. Our children are very important. They are important guests, no less important than anyone else, and we need to invest in them and strengthen our families. There are also those who have not yet merited families. We should daven for them in the merit of welcoming guests; that is very important. It is told that the Alter Rebbe had no children, so he went to ask his teacher, the Maggid, for a blessing. His teacher said to him, “King David says in Tehillim, ‘How can a young man keep his way pure?’ Why does it say, ‘How can a young man merit...?’ How does one merit a young boy? Through his guest—through welcoming guests.” So the Alter Rebbe devoted himself to welcoming guests, and then his firstborn son, Dovber, was born. He named him after his teacher, the Maggid of Mezritch. There is also the matter of bringing joy to guests through song and music. That is a very great thing. The singing and music at the Shabbos table penetrate the souls of those sitting there, including the guests. It is very important. I recently came across an article by someone who was present at a gathering of rabbis and rebbetzins, where they were not talking about politics. One of the fellows there, who did not look particularly religious on the outside, burst into Shabbos songs—Karlin songs, Vizhnitz songs. Another began singing Chabad songs. “So how did these songs come to you?” someone asked him. He replied, “I may look like this on the outside, but inside me there is a blazing fire in my soul, a fire of Chassidic song from a very young age, from my parents’ family life and the atmosphere of Shabbos. You can’t erase that. On the contrary, that is the Yiddishkeit within me.” The writer of the article goes on to say that this calls to mind Jewish children after the Holocaust who had been placed in convents. To establish that they were Jewish, someone cried out, “Shema Yisroel!” The Jewish children began to cry and continued reciting,

35:18 Speaker 2 “Shema Yisroel, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad.” It was in their hearts from what they had been taught as children. The same is true of singing and music. What enters through song remains forever, and that too is part of welcoming guests. At Kiddush Levanah we say: “Had the Jewish people merited nothing more than to greet their Father in Heaven once a month, it would have been enough.” It is a great privilege to greet our Father in Heaven once a month. Yet welcoming guests is greater than receiving the Divine Presence. That tells us that we need to welcome guests much more than once a month, and that it is even more important. There is another story. I keep coming back to stories, because stories of tzaddikim bring home to us the importance of welcoming guests. It is a very great thing. One of the well-known speakers, Rabbi Biderman, brings two stories, one of them about the holy Rebbe of Kobrin. He tells it like this: When the gaon Rabbi Chaim of Brisk was a child, he became very ill. All the doctors had given up hope for him. At that time the holy Rebbe of Kobrin arrived in Brisk and went to visit the boy’s grandfather. The grandfather began crying out, “My dear grandson Chaim is gravely ill!” The holy Rebbe of Kobrin said, “Let’s go visit the sick child.” When they entered the room, the holy Rebbe began: “It says in this week’s parsha, Parshas Vayeira, ‘And he is standing over them under the tree,’ and so on. Why does it say ‘is standing,’ in the present tense? It should have said, ‘And he stood.’ This teaches us that whenever a Jew fulfills the mitzvah of welcoming guests, Avraham Avinu, the pillar of kindness, comes there and stands with him, taking part in welcoming the guests. And our Sages said: A precious stone hung from Avraham Avinu’s neck; any sick person who looked at it was immediately healed. Since you are fulfilling the mitzvah of welcoming guests by hosting me, Avraham Avinu is here, and surely healing will come to the sick child.”

37:45 Speaker 2 And indeed, that is what happened, and the child recovered. Yes. It isn’t easy. It isn’t easy to fulfill these things when it comes to welcoming guests. It takes great self-effacement before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Great self-effacement. A person has his ego, and it really is hard for him to withstand the tests we’ve described, and others besides. There was a chossid—I heard it was Reb Zalman, I’m not sure, someone—who asked the Alter Rebbe in yechidus for a blessing for his needs. What did he say? “I need money.” This man, Reb Zalman, had lost his wealth. So he asked the Alter Rebbe, “I need money. I need money to provide food and drink for my children,” and so on. The Alter Rebbe became deeply absorbed and then said to him: “You speak only about what you need, but you don’t say what you are needed for.” Well, the chossid fainted. When he came to, it was as though he had forgotten his requests. He remained with the Alter Rebbe for a long time, immersed in Torah and prayer. Yes, the idea of “I need” also applies to spiritual matters: a person studies so that he will be a scholar; a person prays so that people will know he prays well. There are personal motives. The Alter Rebbe says: Don’t think, “What do I need?” Think, “What am I needed for?” Yes, when you know how to direct your actions accordingly—what are you needed for?—it becomes easier to fulfill this mitzvah of welcoming guests as well, together with the general mitzvah of “Love your fellow as yourself.” To conclude, I want to finish with something I saw about the holy tzaddik Rabbi Hillel of Paritch. Rabbi Hillel of Paritch was known as a tzaddik; they called him “half a Rebbe.” He was distinguished for his deep devotion, his Torah study and his prayer, for his service of Hashem through prayer. Yes, he knew the Mitteler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek, and he was a great servant of Hashem. Once, on Shabbos, after the congregation finished praying, Rabbi Hillel left the shul with the other worshippers and went home. Everyone wondered what had happened to him.

40:20 Speaker 2 What had happened? His usual practice was to spend many hours in prayer, not to leave with everyone else. They asked him, and he answered: “I have a guest for Shabbos. What are my prayers and I worth if a Jew wants to eat?” They were astonished: such a great tzaddik! But he felt that if he did not give the guest food, his prayers were worth nothing. What have we learned from all this? The importance of welcoming guests. We’ve understood how welcoming guests is greater even than receiving the Divine Presence. We’ve understood what we began with in Tractate Shabbos: that one may move even straw and grain, even four or five baskets, to make room for guests and to make room for Torah study. According to the Gemara we learned, the Mishnah mentions guests before Torah study, showing that welcoming guests takes precedence. It is greater than receiving the Divine Presence, greater than prayer and Torah study. That is why it is so very important to excel in the mitzvah of welcoming guests. Yes, we are awaiting the most important guest, Moshiach, who will come and redeem us. There is no doubt that by excelling at welcoming guests—bringing food and drink, love and joy, song and music, all these good things—we bring them to this guest and breathe new life into him. There is no doubt that this is part of how, with Hashem’s help, we will hasten the welcome of this important guest. May Moshiach come and redeem us soon, in our days. Amen.