(Hospitality to Strangers)
The Mezeritcher Maggid told the Alter Rebbe, that he will tell him a Torah, you should not ask from whom I heard it and when I heard it:
The passuk says (Tehillim 119:9) “Bameh yizakeh naar ess orcho” (How can a young man keep his way pure) – how can one merit to have a son? “ess orcho” – through hachnosas orchim (hospitality to strangers).
The Maggid continued to relate: The Rebbe’s [Besh”t] parents {Rav Eliezer and Sarah] were childless, they lived in a village and earned a prosperous livelihood, and from his earnings he used very little, and the remainder he would give out for hospitality to strangers, every Shabbos he would have 20-30 guests.
One time during the Shabbos day, a guest came after the second meal; although it was strange that in such a small village a guest should arrive in middle of Shabbos, nevertheless he did not ask him who he is and from where he comes, he merely asked him if he already made Kiddush, and when he answered him that he did not, he gave him to make Kiddush, as well as food to eat, and he honored him like all the other guests.
When the guests observed this, they criticized and rebuked the host, how can he honor in such a way a person who certainly arrived from outside the techum on Shabbos? About Avraham Avinu who was so great in being hospitable to strangers, the Midrash says (Bereishis Rabba 49:4) that after the meal he would ask the guests to give thanks to Hashem, and if they refused, he made them very uncomfortable.
The host was very uncomfortable from their criticism and complaints, so he went into his room and cried; but he remembered right away that by his leaving, it will be very difficult and uncomfortable for that guest, so he returned to the guest and honored him even more than before, so it was by Shalash Seudos.
It was his custom that all the guests who came to him for Shabbos stayed until Sunday afternoon, and this way he also conducted himself with this guest; he gave him a good bed, and Sunday afternoon when the guest was about to leave, he escorted him, on the way the guest said to him that he is Eliyahu haNavi, that he was sent from Heaven to test him how hospitable he will be with him.
He told him that he withstood the test, and for his hospitality to strangers he will merit to have a son, and he said to him that he will tell him a Torah, and when the son that you will have, will be two and a half years old, you should repeat for him this Torah: G-d Al-mighty, the G-d of heaven and earth - Him you should fear and every other creation in the world you should not fear except Hashem be He blessed; and the guest bid him farewell.
Some time afterwards the Baal Shem Tov was born (Sicha 1st Nite Sukkos 5697 – Sefer haSichos p. 161. See also Sefer haSichos 5701 p. 41)
