Prepare the Bed for a Guest by Yourself

The Chofetz Chaim (the name means: One Who Desires Life) observed the mitzvah (commandment) of “welcoming the guest” with special attention and care.  In caring for a guest, he would bring the linens and make the bed himself.

One of the guests couldn’t stand to watch the way the elderly Chofetz Chaim would carry the pillows and the quilt for him.  So, he pleaded that he be allowed to make his own bed.  The Chofetz Chaim did not allow his guest to make up the bed.  He said, “Would you also want to assist me when I am doning my talit (prayer shawl) and when I am putting on the tefillin (phylacteries)?  The mitzvah of ‘welcoming the guest’ belongs to me and not to the guest,” the Chofetz Chaim explained.

It used to be that important people would travel to one greater than themselves to learn a law or custom.  People (literally, the world) would travel to Radin, Poland (Chaim Chofetz lived here), just to learn the mitzvah of “welcoming the guest,” from the Chofetz Chaim.  They would come to learn how to understand the feelings of people in a strange place, how to make a stranger forget his loneliness, and how to make it so that a stranger would feel right at home.

From 100 Stories and Parables of the Chofetz Chaim (2006).