A wandering Jew had acquired a reputation as a thief, and was ostracized by society. When he came to Radin, he encountered Rav Naftali Tzvi Trop, the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Chofetz Chaim's Yeshiva. Although Rav Trop knew about this Jew’s past, he greeted him warmly, invited him to eat by his table, and even offered him a bed to sleep for the night in his home. That evening, the Jews of Radin began murmuring with each other, wondering why Rav Trop was exerting himself for this unsavory character. And that same evening, someone worked up the courage to ask Rav Trop directly why he was treating this thief with such warmth.
Rav Trop answered simply: “It does say in the Torah that a thief pays back double the value of what he stole, and if he cannot pay it back, he is sold as a slave. But where is it written that I am exempt from fulfilling the mitzvah of hachnasas orchim? Isn’t he a Jew? Didn’t Avraham Avinu fulfill the mitzvah of hachnasas orchim even with Arabs who worshipped the dust of their feet? Now, it’s true that it’s risky to bring a suspected thief into my house, but I can watch over him carefully the whole time he is in my home. However, I have no excuse to exempt myself from the mitzvah.” The next day, the people in Radin heard that Rav Trop had done exactly what he had said. He had stayed awake the entire night to guard the thief while he slept in his home.
