Rebbe Moshe Kobriner told him the vort that עומד אברהם indicates that Avraham is present at every hachnasas orchim. He added, "Chazal (Bava Basra 16:) say, 'A precious stone hung from Avraham Avinu's neck. Whoever saw it was healed.' Since you are hosting me and are performing hachnasas orchim, Avraham Avinu is right here, in this home. Avraham has the gem that brings refuah. Your Chaimke will surely have a refuah sheleimah." And indeed, he did.
Once, Rebbe Moshe Kobriner was a guest in the home of Rebbe Aharon Karliner zt'l. Reb Aharon told him that his daughter was ill. Rebbe Moshe Kobriner told the sick girl, "Your father is performing hachnasas orchim. This means the stone of healing is hanging on his neck. Look at your father, and you will be healed."
Rebbe Moshe Mordechai of Lelov zt'l was once talking with his chassidim about a certain Yemenite tzaddik who fed hundreds of refugees that lost their homes during World War I. One of the chassidim added, "I heard that this tzaddik was a chavrusah with one of the kabbalah giants..." He was implying that in addition to his chesed, this tzaddik was well-versed in the hidden parts of the Torah. The Rebbe replied, "Why do you mention that? Right now, we're discussing that he fed hundreds of homeless Yidden..." as if to say that the merit of feeding Yidden is so great it is unnecessary to add anything else.
The Sar Shalom of Belz zt'l built a majestic shul in Belz. Two generations later, his grandson, Rebbe Yissachar Dov of Belz zt'l, added the Groise Shtub, a large room where the tishen were conducted. When the Groise Shtub was completed, Rebbe Yissachar Dov said, "A thousand years ago, on this spot, there lived a yid who excelled in the mitzvah of hachnasas orchim like Avraham Avinu. When my grandfather built the shul, this yid thought it was time for techiyas hameisim. He got out of his grave and came to my grandfather. The Sar Shalom told him it wasn’t time yet, and the niftar returned to his grave. In the merit of his hachnasas orchim, which he kept with all his might right here, he merited that the Groise Shtub be built on this location." Yidden will eat at the same place where he had fed hungry people.
The Maharil Diskin zt'l excelled in the mitzvah of hachnasas orchim. Once, the Maharil Diskin suddenly stood up from his in-depth studies and went over to the table to help an old man separate the soft parts of the challah from the crust, making it easier for him to eat.
People asked the Maharil Diskin, "You were immersed in your studies. How did you notice that this elderly man was struggling with his bread?"
The Maharal Diskin replied that the answer to this question is in this week's parashah. The parashah begins 'ה אליו וירא, Hashem came to Avraham, and Rashi writes, "It was the third day after his bris milah, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu came to ask him how he was feeling." It was a wonderful moment. Avraham was having a conversation with Hashem. So, how did Avraham notice the three travelers approaching? The answer is that Avraham was extremely dedicated to hachnasas orchim, and when a person is devoted to a mitzvah, he is alert and aware of everything associated with this mitzvah."
The Avnei Nezer zt'l once served a guest. The guest protested, "I'm a simple person; I don’t deserve this honor." The Avnei Nezer opened the window and pointed to a tannery across the street. The Avnei Nezer said, "There are hides in this tannery. But when these hides become tefillin, they become holy. Similarly, regardless of your level, now you are a mitzvah, a chefetz shel mitzvah (an item used for a mitzvah), so now you are kadosh."
The Chofetz Chaim zt'l was once taking care of a guest. The guest protested, "You don’t have to do this for me. I can set up the room myself." "Really?" the Chofetz Chaim asked. "And tomorrow, will you wear tefillin for me?"
As a bachur, Reb Chaim Brim zt'l would often travel to Bnei Brak to speak in learning with the Chazon Ish zt'l, and then return to Yerushalayim, where he lived. One night, he missed the last bus back, so he had to stay in Bnei Brak in the Chazon Ish's home. He recalled feeling very uncomfortable because three great people served him: the Chazon Ish, the Steipler (the Chazon Ish's brother-in-law), and the Steipler's rebbetzin. The Chazon Ish gave orders; one brought negel vasser, one brought food, and another prepared a bed. He protested, "Please don’t do this for me." The Chazon Ish replied, "Since when does an esrog tell the person holding him how to be handled? Now you are a mitzvah, and you can't tell the people obligated to do this mitzvah how to perform it."
Two travelers came to Kozmir in the middle of the night, and they needed a place to stay. They knocked at the Rebbe's home, the only lit home. The Rebbe took them in, prepared a meal, and a place to sleep. This caused some noise, and the gabbai, who slept in the next room, awoke. The gabbai thought, "Who could come to the Rebbe's house so late at night? I must be hearing neshamos. The gabbai thought that neshamos came to the rebbe so that he could rectify their souls! The gabbai was afraid to see neshamos, so he stayed in his room.
The next morning, at shacharis, the gabbai told his fellow mispallelim about the neshamos who came to the rebbe's home the previous night. The rebbe commented, "It's true that two neshamos came to me last night, but they didn’t come to me so I can fix their neshamos. They came to fix my neshamah" because through them, he had the merit to perform this special mitzvah.
When the Chofetz Chaim zt'l was very old, he couldn’t travel anymore to rabbinic gatherings, so the rabbanim once held a meeting in the Chofetz Chaim's house. Reb Chaim Ozer Grodzhinsky zt'l also came to this meeting, and the Chofetz Chaim was very happy to see him. One of the rabbanim announced, "Now that Reb Chaim Ozer arrived, we are ten people. Perhaps we should daven minchah?" The Chofetz Chaim disagreed. He said, "It isn’t written anywhere that we should ask a guest if he needs to daven."
The Chofetz Chaim added a lesson from this week's parashah: Avraham told Avimelech (20:11), אלקים יראת אין רק הזה במקום, he saw that there was no yiras Hashem in his land. How did Avraham perceive that? Rashi writes, היא אחותך או היא אשתך ,אותו שואלין אשתו עסקי על או ,אותו שואלין ושתיה אכילה עסקי על ,לעיר שבא אכסנאי, "When a guest comes to your city, do you ask him about food and drink (whether he has where to eat) or do you ask him about his wife, 'is she your wife or your sister?'"
The Chofetz Chaim explained, "This means, when a guest arrives, you are supposed to ask about him whether he is tired or hungry." So, the Chofetz Chaim asked Reb Chaim Ozer zt'l whether he wanted to eat. Reb Chaim Ozer said that he didn’t. The Chofetz Chaim replied, "But you are certainly tired. You just arrived. Go rest up a bit."
Avraham told the guests (18:5), לחם פת ואקחה, "I will take bread." Shouldn’t he have said לחם פת ואתנה, "I will give you bread?" The Ahavas Yisrael zt'l replied that when one gives bread to the hungry, he is the one who "takes." As Chazal say, "More than the wealthy does to the poor man, the poor man does to the wealthy,” having enabled him to perform the mitzvah of tzedakah.
The Gemara (Shabbos 127.) states, השכינה פני מקבלת יותר אורחים הכנסת גדולה, "Taking in guests is greater than greeting the Shechinah."
צחות בדרך, we can explain that we greet the Shechinah once a month, by Kiddush Levanah, as we say,זכו לא אלמלא דים בחודש אחת פעם שבשמים אביהם פני להקביל אלא ישראל, "If the Jewish nation would greet their Father in heaven once a month, it is enough." But hachnasas orchim should be השכינה פני מקבלת יותר more often. We should have guests more than once a month.
