Class tonight is on הכנסת אורחים, having guests. And first I will just learn some halachot or some things that are mentioned in the Talmud concerning having guests, and then we'll go a little bit deeper into what's expected of a person when you're going to have guests. First I would like to quote what the Rambam says. This is in Hilchot Avel, the beginning of Hilchot Avel פרק י״ד. This is what the Rambam says, Maimonides: מצות עשה של דבריהם, it is a positive commandment of the חכמים, of the rabbis, as we know that there are certain commandments that are considered a מצות עשה מן התורה, commandments of the תורה, but he says this is a commandment of the חכמים, of the rabbis: לבקר חולים, to visit the sick, ולנחם אבלים, to comfort the mourners, ולהוציא המת, take out a dead body, which means to go to a funeral, ולהכניס כלה, and to bring a כלה into the חופה, to the marriage, וללוות האורחים, and to escort the guests. And in this, these words to escort a guest, this includes also having guests home, but the Rambam mentions the end of the procedure, which means after you have the guests, and you feed them, and you give them everything they need, and then when they leave, you also have to escort them, and we will be discussing this escort a little later. So this is part of the mitzvah. ולהתעסק בכל צרכי הקבורה, he says, and also to be involved all needs of burial, etc., etc. But the Rambam here mentions, among the מצות that the חכמים established, is to have guests, to bring guests into the house. And then he continues: ואלו הן, these things that we just mentioned, הן גמילות חסדים שבגופו, these are גמילות חסדים, kindness, acts of kindness that a person would do with his body שאין להם שיעור, which has no limit. This versus גמילות חסדים בממונו. There is a certain level, certain type of גמילות חסדים, which is kindness that has to do with money, and that has a limit how much money you have to spend. For instance, when it comes to צדקה, it says you should give a tenth, and a person should not give more than 20%, a fifth. Then there are certain cases you can give more, but generally there is a limit of how much a person has to spend. But when it comes to גמילות חסדים בגופו, גמילות חסדים with the body that a person has to do, there is no limit how far you have to go. And the Rambam mentions that הכנסת אורחים, to bring guests into the house, all the way up to escorting them on the way out, is a mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים בגופו. It's הכנסת אורחים of the body, and it has no שיעור. Then the Rambam continues: אף על פי שכל מצות אלו מדבריהם, even though these מצות that we mentioned are only מדרבנן, we just said that it's the רבנן, the חכמים, the rabbis are the ones that established that these are מצות, nevertheless the רמב״ם says הרי הן בכלל ואהבת לרעך כמוך. This is included in the pasuk of the Torah where it says you shall love your friend like yourself, which means כל הדברים שאתה רוצה שיעשו אותם לך אחרים, anything that you would like others to do to you, עשה אתה אותם לאחיך בתורה ומצות, do it to another Yid. So the mitzvah of ואהבת לרעך כמוך, which means love your fellow Jew, includes the mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים. So it comes out that, generally speaking, the mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים is a מצוה מדאורייתא, it's a mitzvah of the Torah. That's exactly what the Rambam is trying to tell us, that really this is included in the mitzvah of the תורה, ואהבת לרעך כמוך, you shall love your fellow Jew, which is a mitzvah, a commandment of God of the Torah. But even though the Rambam had started that these are מצות של דבריהם, מצות מדרבנן, what he means is that the details of exactly what to do, how to do, that the Rabbanan made. But the general mitzvah that you have to bring guests into the home and the rest of the mitzvot that he mentions, these are mitzvot of the Torah. And then the Rambam continues: שכר הלויה מרובה מן הכל, the reward that you get for escorting the person is greater than everything else. That's even more important than feeding and giving to drink and giving a place to sleep. והוא החק שחקק אברהם אבינו, this is the law that Avraham Avinu, our father Avraham established, ודרך החסד שנהג בה, and the way of kindness, the direction of kindness that he behaved: מאכיל עוברי דרכים, would feed people who would pass by, משקה אותם, and he would give them to drink, ומלוה אותם, and he would escort them. Then the Rambam continues, וגדולה הכנסת אורחים מהקבלת פני השכינה, to take guests into the home is greater than to receive the Shechinah. Imagine if a person would have an opportunity to have an encounter with the Shechinah, with God Himself, so to have guests home is greater than to encounter the Shechinah. שנאמר, it says וירא והנה שלשה אנשים, it says by Avraham Avinu he saw the three people. Now we'll discuss this Rambam at length a little bit later, but what the Rambam generally means, not going into the details because in the details we'll speak later, but he generally means by Avraham Avinu we find that Avraham Avinu was sick because he had the ברית מילה and he was still sick, and God came to visit him, and then when he saw the three angels which he thought were people and he wanted to bring them into the home, he told Hashem, \"Hashem, wait a while, wait a moment. I have other business to do. I have to go get the guests.\" So we see from there that Avraham Avinu left Hashem and went to get guests, that shows that it's greater to receive guests, to bring guests into the home than even receiving the Shechinah. And then he says ולווים יותר מהכנסתן, and the escort is even greater than bringing them into the house. ואמרו חכמים, the חכמים said, the Rambam says כל שאינו מלוה כאילו שופך דמים. The person doesn't escort his guest out, it's like he committed murder. Those days especially, he would leave him go alone outside, then who knows what could happen, so therefore you have to escort him to make sure that he's safe. This is generally what the Rambam says as an introduction we're talking about הכנסת אורחים. I would like to go into some more details of הכנסת אורחים itself, and I'll quote different sources and different things that we find concerning הכנסת אורחים.

In the Gemara we find that there is an argument between Rabbi Yochanan and Rav Dimi. Rabbi Yochanan says that גדולה הכנסת אורחים כהשכמת בית המדרש. הכנסת אורחים, bringing in guests is as great as going to the yeshiva to learn. And Rav Dimi says יותר מהשכמת בית המדרש, that to have guests at home is even greater than going into the בית המדרש. Then we have other commentaries who have a discussion of what exactly it means. There's a sefer that the Chafetz Chaim wrote called Ahavat Chesed, and the Chafetz Chaim discusses a lot, that sefer at length, the mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים, and there he writes that in this Gemara we see that if a person has a choice to go to learn a shiur or instead to bring guests into the home, then he is obligated to overlook the learning and he should bring the guests home. Obviously, this is in a case where if not for him, there's nobody else in the house to take the guests in, because if there are other people, then we call this a מצוה שאפשר לעשות על ידי אחרים, it's a mitzvah that could be done through others, so then why should he waste this big ביטול תורה, waste his time from learning? But if there is no choice and there is nobody else, there is only one choice, or he will spend time to bring the guests home and miss the shiur, or go to the shiur and not bring them home, we see from here, he says, that you have to bring the guests and don't go into the בית המדרש, don't go to learn. Others have a different opinion and they say that what it means is that it's not talking in a case where there's a question whether to learn or to bring the guests, because then for sure you have to learn, because we say every morning in davenen, after we mention הכנסת אורחים that bless in אלו דברים we mention bringing guests, and it says תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם, that learning is more important than everything, including guests. So therefore others learn that the pshat in this Gemara, the meaning is that if you will not go to the to a shiur to the yeshiva to learn, you will be able to learn at home. So when we're dealing with whether to learn in a shiur in public, which is very important, but you'll or to have guests, and have the guests and give up the shiur, as long as you will be able to learn anyway. So this is another opinion that we have concerning what it means concerning learning. Now as we go on what else and what else we find concerning הכנסת אורחים, it says a person should always be משתדל, should always try to bring guests home, because the expression, this is a very strong expression, this is a Meiri, one of the great commentaries, the Rishonim, he says שאין לך מצוה גדולה מזו, there is no greater mitzvah than הכנסת אורחים. Imagine, there is no great You should always try. And then we have a sefer called Menorat HaMaor written by the Rabbi' Yisrael Alnakawa also a few hundred years ago. He writes that the greatest mitzvah of tzedakah, of charity, is הכנסת אורחים, and he says שכרו גדולה עד מאוד, the reward for הכנסת אורחים is very great. We find in the Gemara, the Gemara says that as, but as long as we had a Beit HaMikdash, the Beit HaMikdash, the mizbeach, the altar, with the sacrifices that they used to bring on the altar, was mechaper. That would bring a kaparah, that would bring the forgiveness to the sins that the איד would do. Now that we don't have a Beit HaMikdash, we don't have a mizbeach, we don't have an altar, so the Gemara says, שולחנו של אדם מכפר. The table of a person where you eat, that is the kaparah, that's instead of a korban. And a lot of explanations what that means. The simple peshat is that when you sit and if a poor man might come in, so you give him tzedakah. Tzedakah is a form of kaparah, forgives a person for aveirot. But other commentaries say specifically הכנסת אורחים, that what the Gemara means that now we have a mitzvah that takes the place of a korban, of a sacrifice, is the mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים, of bringing in guests. And that's what the Gemara means that sitting by the table is instead of a mizbeach, because that forgives. We find in the Pirkei Avot, it says הוי מקבל את כל האדם בסבר פנים יפות. You should always receive everybody with a smile, with a nice face. So the mefarshim say, the commentaries say this refers specifically to הכנסת אורחים. It means generally, too, that whenever you see a person, smile to him, be nice to people, but specifically it means הכנסת אורחים, that when you have guests at home, make sure that the guests feel that they're welcome. And this will be discussed a little bit later in detail, but this is what they say is the meaning of this statement in Pirkei Avot. We have another statement in Pirkei Avot where it says יהי ביתך פתוח לרווחה, your house should be open widely. And again, what does it mean? Open for guests. That means open for people who pass by, you should always bring them in. And the details of hachnasat orchim we learn from Avraham Avinu. It says just like Avraham, what Avraham Avinu did, this is what we have to do. Just like Avraham Avinu went out looking for guests, we should also go out to looking for guests. Avraham Avinu made sure that they rest. He told them, \"Sit under the tree.\" We have to make sure that the guests feel comfortable, not only giving food, but feel comfortable. Nowadays you don't sit under the tree, maybe in some places you do, but bring them home, give them a nice bed, give them a good give them good food, give them food that you would eat yourself. We find Avraham Avinu referred to them, when he spoke to them he called them, \"אדוני, my masters.\" That's how you should speak to the guests, and make them feel very comfortable at home. There's a question whether if the husband isn't home and the wife is home, if she should take in guests. Now, obviously we're talking a case where there is no question of yichud, cuz yichud, which means that a woman alone, not allowed to be with a man alone in the house, so if there's a she'eilah of yichud, then definitely you don't take the person in. But let's say the case there's no she'eilah, no question of yichud, there are children around, so some want to say that without the permission of her husband, she should not bring in the guest. We find in Tanach, when Elisha, the Navi Elisha, would pass by the house of the Shunamis, famous story, she would he would pass by, and says she said to her husband, \"You know what? We have him pass by. Let's build for him a room, and let's put into the room מיטה, כסא, וספסל, a bed, a chair, and a bench, and a table, מיטה, שולחן, and table.\" So said she said to her husband, let's do it. In other words, she needed the permission of her husband. And by the way, there we see that when you take a guest in, you should give the guest all the comforts: give him a chair, a bed to sleep on, a table to eat on, so the the the guest should feel very comfortable. Just looking over these הלכות here.

This mitzvah of hachnasat orchim applies to any type of guest, meaning whether he is a talmid chacham, a scholar, or even an am ha'aretz, somebody who is not a scholar. As a matter of fact, this even applies to a person who is not religious. We find a famous story, I don't want to spend time on the story, but we find a famous story with the Baal Shem Tov, actually Baal Shem Tov's father, that the story is known that why did the Baal Shem Tov merit to have a son, Baal Shem Tov's father merit to have a son like the Baal Shem Tov? So, many things that his father did, he was a great person. But one of the things that the story is told, he was a big מכניס אורח, he always used to take guests into the house. And in Shamayim, in heaven, there was a great, you know, discussion, look at this great מכניס אורח. So they said, we have to test him to see how far it goes. So Eliyahu Hanavi said, \"I'm going to test him.\" So Eliyahu Hanavi once came on Shabbos to the city where he was, and he took him into the house, and all the people looked at him. A person to come to a city on Shabbos, middle of Shabbos, obviously he had to walk or travel from someplace far on Shabbos, so people looked down at him. He didn't care. He took him into the house, gave him food, didn't care if people were laughing at him, and he didn't let anyone do anything to make him feel uncomfortable. And he even, you know, took him and cleaned him up, etc., etc. And he went out of his way. And motzaei Shabbos, when he was about to leave, when this guest, who was supposedly a מחלל שבת when he came, before he left, he turns around to him, and he says, \"You should know, I am Eliyahu Hanavi, and I came to test you, and you withstood the test, you passed the test. And as a reward for your hachnasat orchim, you will have a son that will light up the world with his Torah.\" And he had a son, the Baal Shem Tov. So we could imagine what, how important it is. So we see from here that even if the person is a מחלל שבת, now if he's a person that's a real rasha and a real, then it's a different story. But we're talking normal people, especially our times, when the people are not really מחלל שבת בכוונה, intentionally, they don't really know better, so certainly there's a mitzvah. But nevertheless, it does say that to take a talmid chacham into the house, a guest, a talmid chacham, is even a greater mitzvah. One more point I want to make when it comes to the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim: What is called an a guest? What is the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim? Now, if the person is poor, the one that you take in, some say that then you fulfill the mitzvah of tzedakah. You're giving a poor man food, that's the mitzvah of tzedakah, the mitzvah of charity. And this will not fall under the category of hachnasat orchim, of bringing in guests. Others say, and most say, that it's not like that. If you give a poor man, if you bring in a guest a poor man, then you have two mitzvot. First of all, he's poor, so you gave him tzedakah, but in addition to that, you also have the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim, because the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim does not apply only to poor people. It applies to the richest person. If the richest person is a stranger in town, then some say he's considered like a poor man after all, because what does he have here? He doesn't have his bed here, he doesn't have his table here, he doesn't have anything here, so he's like a poor man. But even not looking at him as a poor man, even if we consider him a rich man, but the fact that he's a stranger here in town and we take him in and we make him feel comfortable, that is the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. And based on that, the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim will only apply to a person who is from out of town and doesn't have a home here. But a person who has a home here, he's a neighbor of mine, it's not the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. In other words, if I have, unless he doesn't have what to eat, if I have a friend and I just want to invite him over for a meal, and he could just as well sit at home and eat the meal, that does not fall, the Alter Rebbe says does not fall under the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. That, it could be a mitzvah of what we call אהבת רעים. It's a mitzvah of showing friendship, which is very good and it's a big mitzvah, all fine, but the specific mitzvah of hachnasat orchim is somebody who is from out of town, somebody who doesn't have a home here, and somebody who is a stranger. Or, interestingly, what the Alter Rebbe adds, or if you invite somebody else, even if he's a neighbor of yours, in honor of that stranger. Let's say you have a guest from out of town, and in honor of that person you invite more people and they could be your neighbors, that's part of the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. But just to invite a neighbor because we want to have a good time together, because he's my just a neighbor next door, that's not hachnasat orchim. He's not an אורח here, he's not a guest here. I'm not knocking it. It's a good thing, because when you invite other people, they invite you, you're friendly, and you're good, and it breeds ahavat Yisrael, and it's a very great thing. But we're tonight discussing specifically that specific mitzvah which calls which is called hachnasat orchim, falls under the category of hachnasat orchim. I would assume, it doesn't say clearly, I would assume a person who is lonely at home, for instance, and you are bringing the person into the house because the person at home doesn't have a regular Shabbat table, for instance, that's in the category of הכנסת אורחים. He's like a stranger, because a stranger doesn't mean specifically whether he lives on on 40th Street, in open road, or he lives in a different block. The point is a person who needs your help. But if it's a person who has a home and has a family and could sit and and have the same Shabbos meal himself, just let's say she's lazy to cook, and someone else invites, that's not הכנסת אורחים. That's helping out a person. That's a good mitzvah. It's a mitzvah to help somebody else. You know, you help somebody, you do someone a favor. It's always good to do someone a favor, save someone from cooking. But the specific mitzvah per se of הכנסת אורחים is somebody who needs, not because they don't have have money. See, that would be tzedakah also. But that's we're not talking about tzedakah, not that he needs, but a person doesn't have a regular table, a regular meal, and he feels uncomfortable where he is, and you make the feel the person feel comfortable, then you fulfill the mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים. This is what the mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים is. And this mitzvah, as it was said before, is greater than קבלת פני השכינה, is greater than receiving the Shechinah, is greater than speaking to, coming to, being in connection to the Shechinah, to Hashem. That's what the Gemara says, that this is greater than קבלת פני השכינה.

In Tikkunei Zohar, which is part of the Zohar, written by Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai, there it says that if you receive guests, it's as great as קבלת פני השכינה, as great as receiving the Shechinah. Which seems to be a contradiction. Because in the Gemara it says that it's greater than קבלת פני השכינה, and in the Zohar it says that this is כקבלת פני השכינה, like receiving the face of the Shechinah. But the answer to this, that's not really a contradiction, because it depends in which level. Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai, who wrote the Zohar, is speaking about his own level. Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai's level of קבלת פני השכינה, of receiving the Shechinah, was so great that compared to his level of of receiving the Shechinah, הכנסת אורחים is equal. But most people, by them, הכנסת אורחים is greater than receiving the Shechinah. You know, Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai basically we could say always received the Shechinah. Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai was always close to the Shechinah. Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai said that he is tied with Hashem always with a knot, so he's always close to the Shechinah. So when we talk a special קבלת פני השכינה, when Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai was specifically more involved in receiving the Shechinah, that's such a high level that receiving guests compared to that level is only equal. But most people, that their level of קבלת פני השכינה is not that great, and therefore receiving guests is even greater than that. Now there's Now let's get, as I said before, to the Rambam, that the Rambam spoke about receiving guests and he said גדולה הכנסת אורחים מקבלת פני השכינה, that receiving guests is greater than receiving the Shechinah. And the Rambam brings proof to what he said, because he quotes the pasuk, it says וירא והנה שלשה אנשים. He saw there were three people. That's Those are the words from the pasuk that the Rambam quotes. The pasuk is a pasuk, as I said before, written by Avraham Avinu, where it says that he saw the three people, and he ran to them, and he called them in. Now in the Gemara, in the Talmud, the Talmud Gemara brings the same proof, but the Gemara brings the other pasuk. The Gemara says that how do we know that receiving the guest is greater than receiving the Shechinah, because it says he ran to them. And that proves, he told Hashem wait, and he ran to the guests. And that proves that guests are more important than קבלת פני השכינה. But the Rambam doesn't bring that part of the pasuk. The Rambam says the proof is because it says he saw the three people. And the question is what does the Rambam mean here? How does how do these words prove, the fact that he saw the three people, how does that prove that receiving guests is greater than קבלת פני השכינה? Now at first glance the peshat could have been the fact that he was able to see three people. Imagine he's standing and talking to Hashem, concentrating obviously on what he was doing, talking to Hashem, so how in the world could he have seen anything else? There is a halachah that when you say קריאת שמע, שמע ישראל, you're not allowed to look around. You're not allowed to see anything. Certainly it says when you stand Shemoneh Esrei, when you're standing and davening, and you're davening Shemoneh Esrei, you're davening the Amidah, it says you're not allowed to look around. You're supposed to stand כעבדא קמי מריה, like a king like a like a servant in front of the king. Certainly Avraham Avinu, when he was actually standing in front of the Shechinah, so certainly you can imagine his concentration, and he didn't look out, and he didn't see anything else. And here, all of a sudden, it says that he saw three people. How in the world did he see three people while standing in front of Hashem? So that proves that guests, taking guests, is more important than the Shechinah, and therefore standing in front of front of the Shechinah, he was able to see the three people. But this only explains how these three words prove that guests are more important than the Shechinah. But we have another question. If the Gemara didn't bring these three words, why does the Rambam? Why doesn't the Rambam bring the regular words? This also makes sense. But he should have brought the proof that the Gemara brings, the fact that he ran to them, and he told Hashem to wait. Obviously, the Rambam is trying to teach us something specific concerning the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. And that's why the Rambam brings it out with the word he saw the three guests, and that has a special meaning to us in understanding how we fulfill the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. We see something else interesting in the Rambam, as I quoted before, the Rambam says that escorting the guests is more important than feeding them and giving them to drink. But the question is, why? We would assume that hachnasat orchim really means a person doesn't have a place to eat, or even if he has a place where he could actually eat the food, but it's not in a comfortable way, he feels it, so you bring him into the house and make him feel comfortable, and he eats. But the main thing is giving him the food and giving him to drink. Escorting would be, you know, the last thing that we would expect should be important. It's important, we could just understand that. Actually, the word אשל, we all know that the word אשל, where it says that Avraham Avinu made an אשל, now we all know אשל means like a hotel, but the word אשל means is made up of three words: אלף, שין, למד. אכילה, שתיה, and some say it means לינה, which means to sleep. But the the most accepted one is that the למד is לויה, to escort, to walk along with. So it's important. But why would the Rambam say that this is the most important part? There must be something here the Rambam tries to teach us. The truth is the Rambam is telling us the real depth of how to perform the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. And as I said before, it's very important to know how to perform it, because as the Menorat HaMaor says, it's the Meiri, the Menorat HaMaor, from the greatest mitzvot, and it's a mitzvah that the sachar is great, and you should always try to do this mitzvah because it's very, very important. So obviously, we have to know exactly how to perform the mitzvah. And we know that everything that the Rambam says is a halacha, it's not just telling us, you know, proves things. There is halachot that are involved, every mitzvah has halachot. So there is a halacha that the Rambam is trying to tell us here by telling us that escorting is the most important part, and he proves it from the fact that אברהם אבינו saw the three guests. Let me explain it. When it comes to gemilut chasadim, to being kind to somebody else, and let's use the best example from the mitzvah of tzedakah, which is the simplest example of how you're kind to another person, there are two parts actually in this mitzvah, or any mitzvah of gemilut chasadim, of kindness. There is the part that happens to the receiver, that the receiver, the one that needs the money, got the money, he has the tzedakah. He was hungry, he has the food. And then you have the part of the giver, of the doer, the person that gave. As far as the receiver is concerned, in truth, we would assume makes no difference in which way it's done, as long as he has the money. The main thing is, when it comes to gemilut chasadim, there's somebody that is lacking something, and you filled it for him, you gave it to him. A person needs money, you gave him the money. A person needs food, you gave him food, or whatever it is, so the person got it, and that's the most important part of the mitzvah. Actually, it even says if a person did the mitzvah of tzedakah without any intentions, he still has the mitzvah. For instance, it says in Rashi Parashat Ki Tetze that if a person is walking in the street and lost money, and a poor man found it, and he used the money, the one that lost it doesn't know a poor man found it, the one that lost it is very unhappy of what happened, and he'd be very happy to get it back, but the fact was he didn't get it back, and someone found it and used it, he has the mitzvah of tzedakah. Why? Because the bottom line is what counts. The bottom line is that the poor man got his money. So that's the mitzvah of tzedakah. So the main thing is, it would seem, the part of the receiver. Now how the giver feels about it, it would seem makes no difference. On the other hand, we find it's not so. By tzedakah, we find that when you give, the halachah is you have to give it בסבר פנים יפות, you have to give it with a nice smile, with a nice face. And it says that if a person gives tzedakah, מתברך בשש, gets six ברכות, והמפייסו, if in addition to giving him the tzedakah, you also appease him, you say a nice word to him because usually a poor man feels very bad, and you're nice to him, Then מתברך בי\"א. You get five more ברכות, eleven ברכות you have. Eleven places in the Torah, eleven פסוקים that we find concerning the mitzvah of tzedakah. So the part of how the person feels about it, the one that gives, and how he gives it, is very important. But still, when it comes to the mitzvah of tzedakah, this is not an essential part of the mitzvah, and the proof is that the best form of tzedakah, the Rambam says, is when the person that receives doesn't even know where he gets it from. The best way would be if you give tzedakah to a person and he doesn't know who he got it from, and you don't know who you gave it to. So, obviously, the feeling of the person is not that important. Because if if that would be an essential part of the mitzvah of tzedakah, the דין should be that you should have to give tzedakah in a form the person should know who gets it, who who he's getting it from, and you should smile to him. But that's only if he knows who he gets it from, then there's a דין that והמפייסו, you should be nice to him. And it says if a person gives צדקה ופניו כבושות בקרקע, and his face is in the ground, it means he he's feels bad and upset about it, says almost as if he lost the whole זכות, as if he lost the whole merit of tzedakah. So it is important, but definitely it's not an essential part of the mitzvah. And the proof is, like I said, that there is no obligation for you to show your face. The best thing would be if you wouldn't show your face, if you would make sure that he doesn't even know who gave. But that's only when it comes to tzedakah. By הכנסת אורחים, the Rambam wants to tell us, the feeling that the person puts into the הכנסת אורחים, the feeling that he shows to the guest is an essential part of the mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים. In other words, the middah of chesed, the kindness that a person shows, the middah that's in the person, which is something that's in the person, and it's between him and Hashem, that middah is very important to be felt by the person who receives it. And that's more important than even giving the food itself. Because as as we said before, tzedakah הכנסת אורחים is not the main thing you're giving somebody something that he's missing, like he's missing food. That's tzedakah, so if you give a poor man food, it's tzedakah. הכנסת אורחים is a different idea. הכנסת אורחים is making a stranger comfortable. We know the nature of a person is, when a person is in a strange place, then you are uncomfortable. That's how it is, you're not at home, you're uncomfortable. You always, you know, you know, always down, you're always It's not, you're not in the mood, and that's how it is, it's nature. The mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים is bringing the guest in and making him comfortable. Certainly, if he needs food, you have to give him food, so the mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים includes giving food, without a question, because that's definitely part of making him comfortable. If he's hungry, he's not comfortable, and if he's thirsty, he's not comfortable, and he's tired, and he doesn't have a bed, until you give him a bed, he's not comfortable. But the main point here is the making the person comfortable, and that's the the in Hebrew the word would be the התעניינות. Who knows the the English translation? Huh? The involvement, the caring that a person shows to the other person, that's what the essence of the mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים is. Where do we see an expression of that aspect of the mitzvah? When you give the guest the food, it doesn't you don't really see it, because giving food, there is something specific that you're giving him, and the main thing that's seen is that he's hungry, you're giving him food, you're giving him a place to sleep. When you give him something that superficially, you don't see how it's needed, you don't see that he's missing something, and nevertheless you give him, that's how you show that you really care about him. And where do we see that? The escort. He ate, you gave him food, you gave him to drink, you gave him a bed, everything he had. Now he finished, he's satisfied, that he's שבע, he's not thirsty, he slept, he rested, now he's going home. Now there is nothing that he needs, and nevertheless you walk along with him. That's how you show the guest that you really care about him, and that's why you're walking along with him. And that's what the Rambam means when he says that the escort is more important. And that's why even the beginning, as I quoted the Rambam, when he speaks about the mitzvah of הכנסת אורחים amongst the different mitzvot that the Rabbanan established, he doesn't even mention the word הכנסת אורחים, which means bringing in, the word הכנסה means to bring in, to bring in the guest, he mentions the escorting the guest. And I'll read I'll read it again. In הלכות אבל פרק י\"ד, he says, מצות עשה של דבריהם, it's a מצוה of דרבנן, לבקר חולים, to visit the sick, לנחם אבלים, to comfort the mourners, ולהוציא המת, to take out the dead body to קבורה, ולהכניס כלה, to bring a כלה to the חופה, וללוות אורחים, and to escort the guests. He doesn't even mention here that the mitzvah is הכנסת אורחים, to bring guests home. And as I said in the beginning, it doesn't mean to exclude it, it's included, but he picks the example to show that you know what the mitzvah is! The mitzvah is to show you're caring for that person. And that mitzvah is expressed when you escort the person. Later on he does mention the the giving food. He says, שכר הלויה מרובה מן הכל, the reward for escorting is greater than the rest, והוא החוק שחקק אברהם אבינו, this is the law אברהם אבינו established, ודרך החסד שנהג בו, the way of kindness that he behaved. And then he says what did he do? מאכיל עוברי דרכים, would feed people who pass by, משקה אותם, he would feed give them to drink, ומלוה אותם, and he would escort them. And then he says that that, as he said before, the escort is greater, אמרו חכמים, the חכמים said, כל שאינו מלוה כאילו שופך דמים, if you don't escort them it's as if you spilled their blood. Now the simple peshat means, as I said before, if you don't escort them, you never know, they're going they go outside by themselves, who knows what could happen to them, you put their life in danger. There's a deeper peshat here. The expression שופך דמים, the expression of spilling blood, the Gemara uses not only for physical murder. It says if a person embarrasses somebody, the Gemara says anybody who embarrasses somebody else, כאילו שופך דמים, is called spilling blood. And the Gemara says why? Because when you embarrass somebody, he turns red, he turns white. How does he turn red? Because the blood rushes into his face, so you're spilling his blood. So the term spilling blood is a term used concerning embarrassing somebody. When you make somebody not feel good, you spill his blood. And that's what the Rambam says here: if you don't escort, that means that as if you're showing the person that you don't care about him. You gave him food, but it doesn't mean you care. You gave him food, you did your your deed, you did your your your the act of the act, but it doesn't show you're caring. So if you don't walk, that means if you don't escort him, it's like שופך דמים, you make him feel bad. In other words, when does he really see that everything you did for him till now was because you cared for him? That is when you escort the person. And that's what I if not, it's שופך דמים, it's just like you're embarrassing him. So we come out from here that the most important part of hachnasat orchim is the fact that you care about the person and you make the person feel good, which automatically includes everything that's there: eating, and drinking, and sleeping, and everything else, because everything is part. But the point is not the food itself. See, and that's where the difference, it differs from the mitzvah of tzedakah. And I'm repeating it again because I'm trying to stress the point. It differs from the mitzvah of tzedakah. Tzedakah mainly is if a person is missing something, you have to give it to him. The pasuk says you have to give him די מחסורו אשר יחסר לו, whatever he was missing, you have to give him. And the Gemara says that it means whatever he was missing. If this person used to be rich and he became poor, you have to give him what he used he is used to. If he was used to riding a horse, you have to give him enough that he should be able to buy a horse. I, you could say he's a poor man, I'm giving tzedakah, so he'll walk, he could walk. But he used to be rich and used to ride a horse. Or עבד לרוץ לפניו, he used to have a servant serving him, it's a mitzvah of tzedakah to give him. But the reason is all because we're dealing mainly with the thing that he's lacking. He's lacking something, he's missing, you fill it. It's also important, as we said before, very important to make him feel good. You have to smile to him and as we said. But that's not what the mitzvah of tzedakah is. That's just another detail to tzedakah. Hachnasat orchim, the essence of the mitzvah is the fact that you make him feel good. And that's why the Rambam said all these things. Now this explains why the Rambam, when he brings the beginning of what Avraham Avinu did, and he says that hachnasat orchim is greater than receiving the Shechinah, he quotes the pasuk: וירא והנה שלשה אנשים, he saw the three people. The Rambam is telling us something very, very deep here. He's not He says that hachnasat orchim is greater than receiving the Shechinah, had he quoted the pasuk where it says he ran to them, like the Gemara, he ran and he brought them in, he left Hashem behind and ran to get them. That shows that this is greater than קבלת פני השכינה, true. But what part of hachnasat orchim? The fact that he brought them in, he was giving them something. The Rambam wants to tell us that hachnasat orchim means your caring. So he says the fact that he looked and he saw them, he was standing by the Shechinah and he got involved, he looked and he saw the three people, that looking, that was the beginning of his caring. And that's what counts in the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim, in the mitzvah of caring. What could make a person do hachnasat orchim and care for that person? That's a person who's ego is not so big. Because when you care for yourself a lot, then automatically you care for somebody else less. If a person cares, doesn't doesn't have a big gaavah, doesn't have a big ego, then it's much easier for a person to care for somebody else and fulfill the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim properly. And as we said in the beginning, many things of hachnasat orchim we learn out from Avraham Avinu. All the details, like you have to invite the guests, you have to look for them, you have to go out, you have to bring them, all the different things, you have to give them to rest. There's another thing we learn out from Avraham Avinu.

It says by Avraham Avinu, he did his hachnasat orchim out of bitul, out of self-nullification. Because it says in Chassidut, it says like this: when it comes to tzedakah or gemilut chasadim, and hachnasat orchim, there are two ways a person could do it. You have sometimes a person does it out of gaavah. You have some people who are so rich, and they want to show off so much, they'll give you. They'll show you, look, I give, I give tzedakah, I... And some people could even fulfill the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim in order to show off. So they're doing it for themselves. Avraham Avinu did not do hachnasat orchim for that reason. Avraham Avinu did hachnasat orchim, he said, when he spoke to Hashem, he says, ואנכי עפר ואפר, I'm dust, I'm I'm nothing. And the reason he felt he did hachnasat orchim, because he felt that every single person is better than him. If I have food, and if I have what I need, certainly somebody else has to have, because definitely somebody else is better than me. And we see an interesting thing here. For who did Avraham Avinu care? For people that he thought were Arabs, people who he thought worship idols. That's what it says. It says when they came in, he told them to wash their feet, because in his time there were such meshugaim, crazy people, that would worship the dust on their feet. So he thought maybe these are guys who worship the dust on their feet, and he didn't want to have avodah zarah, idol in his house, so he told them to wash their feet. In other words, he suspected that these are ערביים, Arabs, that worship idols, and what kind of idol? The lowest type, the dust of their feet. And nevertheless, he took them in. And even to them, he felt that it's greater than receiving the Shechinah. And the question is, where did Avraham Avinu take this from? How did Avraham Avinu know that to go to guests is greater than the Shechinah, than taking the Shechinah? See, we know it. We know it from Avraham. Where did Avraham Avinu know it from? Who told it to him? So how did he know that he has to drop Hashem and go to the guests? The answer is, he takeh didn't know. He just knew one thing: someone else comes before him. That's all he knew. He is nothing. Someone else comes before him, whoever that person may be, is better than him. So him to stand in front of the Shechinah is his personal gain, spiritual gain, true, but it's his gain. To bring someone else into the house, hachnasas orchim, to make someone else feel good, is helping that person. Who comes first, me or him? That's the basic question. So some people do hachnasas orchim or tzedakah or any other mitzvah, and that's of gemilut chasadim, for their own benefit. People should speak about them, or they show and, you know, other people, they're rich and they try to show I'm giving, I did, and Avraham Avinu is the opposite. He did it out of bitul. So he felt, who am I? There's a pasuk that says concerning Avraham: לעשות צדקה ומשפט, that Avraham, Hashem says, I know Avraham will do tzedakah and mishpat. Tzedakah is kindness, tzedakah, mishpat is judgment. Now, how do the two things fit together? Usually judgment is the opposite of kindness. So what it says is, peshat is like this: Avraham Avinu did his kindness after he judged, but not that person, he judged himself. Avraham Avinu would make a cheshbon, take an account, who was account, he would make, take an account of how much he needs, how much the minimum that he needs, and that's what he would take off, and the rest he would give to others. See, if a person gives tzedakah or does hachnasas orchim out of gaavah, from arrogance, then the most he leaves for himself, and a little bit he gives to somebody else, because that's the only way he could show off. By Avraham, it's the opposite. He judged how much he needs, that the little bit that he took, and the rest, and Avraham Avinu was very rich, the rest he used to give to tzedakah and and for hachnasas orchim. And from Avraham Avinu we learn that the way to do hachnasas orchim is through bitul. So if a person wants to accomplish the mitzvah of hachnasas orchim, fulfill the mitzvah of the way you're supposed to, which is, as we've been saying the whole time, showing that you care for somebody else, you care for that person, that can only come through the person's own bitul. It comes from gaavah, then that person won't feel that you care for him. The person will see that you're doing hachnasas orchim because you care for yourself. And the way you could show show off yourself or do whatever for your own benefit is by helping somebody else, which as far as tzedakah is concerned, as we said before, it's fine. If you bring a person that doesn't have food into the house and you give him, zal zayn. But that's not what hachnasas orchim is. If you do it out of bitul, then the mitzvah of hachnasas orchim is done properly. And this is what we learn out from here, that the mitzvah of hachnasas orchim is a special mitzvah. It's in tzedakah itself, it's the mitzvah that you have a person who is a stranger, or someone who feels strange, and you make him feel good. Then it's hachnasas orchim. Now, according to this, food is not really the essence of hachnasat orchim, even though you have to give the person food. And therefore, it's possible to do hachnasat orchim in shul also. People think hachnasat orchim means you just bring him home and you give him a meal, which is true. But if a person comes into a shul, and he's a stranger, and you walk over to him and you give him shalom aleichem, and you make him feel at home, that's hachnasat orchim, just as much as giving him food, because the food is just an expression of the general mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. And you could do hachnasat orchim without food. Let's say a person comes to your house, he's a stranger, and he's not hungry, and he doesn't want to eat, it's not hachnasat orchim? Because that's not the point. And that's what we have to keep in mind. It's interesting if people, a lot of people, most, everybody does hachnasat orchim. You know, people come, strangers, you always take people home. And it's interesting how people have this feeling of hachnasat orchim. The same person will come over to you and ask you for a donation, you'll give him three dollars, five dollars, you wouldn't give him ten dollars. But to take him in for Shabbos, you'll definitely do, and it costs you ten dollars to feed him, but no one will look at it, well, I don't want to give him, because hachnasat orchim is a mitzvah that people do. But unfortunately, that's at home. But when it comes to shul, let's, I'm just using an example, not everybody does hachnasat orchim. Come to shul, you see a stranger, you don't know who he is, he doesn't care, he comes and sits. I know a person that told me, he davened in a certain shul, and he says he never came back because he felt, you know, it was so cold there, and that's hachnasat orchim. And the truth is that if we do the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim properly, then Hashem will do his hachnasat orchim, because after all, we are all now like guests. Really, we belong with the Beit Hamikdash, with Mashiach, that's our home. We are all אורחים. What we want is hachnasat orchim. We want Hashem should gather us and take us in. And Hashem should care for us the way he will when Mashiach will come. So, since everything is midah k'neged midah, measure for measure, if we do hachnasat orchim now properly, this is a means that Hashem will do for us hachnasat orchim the way we want, and he'll bring Mashiach, and take us out of גלות במהרה בימינו. Amen. Yes. I have two questions. First of all, if you invite somebody from another town to come to you for Shabbos, you are not creating him as a stranger, creating him to be a stranger? Why are you inviting him to come? Why would you invite him to come? Why, what's wrong if he stays home? Well, he's alone, or... Oh, so that's okay. Well, like no, even like if it's a couple, if they're inviting someone... Why would you invite them? You have to have a reason. Just that to that they should To make them feel better. Yeah, to make them have a Okay, so that's part of hachnasat orchim. Now, the second question is, sometimes people come to you for Shabbos, they bring you wine, flowers. Is this okay to accept the gift? Yeah. You mean it takes away from the mitzvah, that's what you're asking, to accept the gift? Well, number one, it doesn't really take away from the mitzvah, because the mitzvah, it doesn't get minimized. Second of all, it makes them feel better. Person comes to your house and they give you a gift, they feel that they did something. So when you take a gift in order for them to feel better, this is part of hachnasat orchim. Taking the gift is hachnasat orchim. Yes. Okay, in that corner. Can I learn somewhere that Hashem show a sign to Avraham to put the guests before him? Was there something like a sign that Hashem show to Avraham, you know, in Rashi? No. In Rashi, no? No. Now the question, you're I know what you're saying. I'll tell you what I'll tell you what you're saying. What's the question? What the question is: I asked, I mentioned before that where did Avraham Avinu know that אורחים, guests, come before קבלת פני השכינה? And I said that he didn't know, he just felt that somebody else comes before him. What Rav Avner is saying is that he learned, and it's true, that Avraham Avinu did have a place to learn. So, what I said is על דרך המוסר, it's from through from חסידות. In simple peshat, it says like this, how he knew. Avraham Avinu understood that the reason Hashem made it very hot so no guests should come, so he shouldn't be bothered since he was sick. Avraham Avinu thought to himself, if Hashem doesn't want me to take guests, why did he have to make it hot? Since Hashem is coming to me, automatically I can't take guests. Hashem is here, how could I take guests? So from that Avraham Avinu understood that the fact that Hashem came to him is no reason for him not to take guests, so Hashem had to make it hot for that. So that was the way he learned it out. That's the simple peshat, but in a deeper peshat is Avraham didn't even have to learn anything, he just knew that his benefit is always second and someone else's is always first. Yes? You brought out from Rambam a number of times, the number that there was three guests. So could we learn that for two guests we shouldn't... No, no, no, it just happened to be two, happened to be three. No, no, you can't learn from there. Just happened to be three, but even one, as long as you're doing hachnasat orchim then it's greater than the Shechinah. And these mitzvot that you that we've spoken of this evening... Yeah. These are seven-day mitzvot or שבת מצוות? Seven-day mitzvot. I just used an example of Shabbos because that's when people feel you know they need more, but as far as the mitzvah in the weekdays too of hachnasat orchim. Says other things while we're talking about hachnasat orchim that things that you could do through somebody else. People have servants and maids, but when it comes to a guest, you should do it yourself. There are many stories of tzadikim, rebbeim, who had many people working for them, but when they had a guest, they would run themselves and they would bring the food, just like Avraham Avinu ran himself. And also it says that you should try to get the children involved in the mitzvah for the sake of chinuch, as Avraham Avinu did. That he sent the child, says with ישמעאל לחנכו במצות to get him used to the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. But there are so many stories that we told in the Gemara stories of tzadikim that they for hachnasat orchim they get involved completely all by themselves. And the reason is very simple: since it's greater than the Shechinah, these צדיקים wanted to get closer to the Shechinah, by doing this, you're even closer to the Shechinah than if you actually speak to the Shechinah. That's very good. Yes. If you bring in high people that you know they have everything... Yeah, yeah, see, it's a good, quick question. People who are non-religious and you bring them to the house. Now, these are people who have food. Well, first of all, some of them don't have kosher food. But even if they would keep kosher, but this is part of when we say to make a person feel good physically, certainly to make him feel good spiritually, certainly a mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. Here it's a mitzvah that they don't even know that they need. They don't even feel uncomfortable in Yiddishkeit, and by doing this, you make them understand that they should be uncomfortable, and then they're comfortable. That is definitely a mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. In fact, it's bringing them back to Yiddishkeit. Yiddishkeit, that's definitely hachnasat orchim. Yes. Don't we learn from that the fact it says בצער... that the Shechinah is closer to uh to a person who is in צער, so automatically you're bringing also the Shechinah? True, true. That when you bring somebody who is feels uncomfortable, it says a פסוק, so the Shechinah is there. There's a פסוק that says, מרום וקדוש אשכון את דכא ושפל רוח. מרום וקדוש, השם who's elevated and great and holy. אשכון, where do I rest? את דכא ושפל רוח, together with somebody who feels very broken and very low. So a person who's a stranger and a person who feels uncomfortable, Hashem is with him. So in truth, you're right, that when you bring the guest in, that's a form of bringing Hashem in. True. And that's probably also why it's greater than קבלת פני השכינה, exactly. Yes. Did you happen to mention how far are you supposed to escort him? Was it something with like two steps? Yeah, there are a lot of halachot. I didn't want I specially didn't mention it. I know I'll tell you why, because it's very hard to you know to measure it nowadays what it means, because it depends on the when the shiurim the measurements in the Gemara is because they used to go out of town and different places where it was dark and, nowadays the חשבונות don't fit exactly. So it's hard to say exactly what it means and how far it goes. Here, you walk them to the door, you walk them out to the car. Well, it says, there probably it says you should walk a מיל, you should walk all way to the end of the city, all kinds of things it says, but it means, I'll tell you, it comes out the way I explained before. Walk him out in a way that he feels that you care for him. So, if you tell the guy, \"You know, you sit here,\" and he's ready to leave, you say, \"Okay, גיי געזונטערהייט\", then you showed you don't. But if you walk with him, you walk out, so you showed that you care. You walk out to the car, you walk whatever, whichever way it is. And that's the way you show it. In a case where it's dangerous, and certainly you should walk with the person, walk him home. Like if you have a simple case, you have a a woman staying in your house eating Friday night and she's walking home and she's alone, you shouldn't let her walk alone to her house so you should walk with her to her apartment. I mean that's part of levayah. You have a woman, and then who is going to walk her uh to her apartment if it's dangerous? Another woman? Then she has to go back alone. So then two people should go. But not the husband. The husband and the wife, that's the best way. Well, if it's not in a question of יחוד, he could do it. If it's a question of יחוד outside, if it's dark and this there's a question of יחוד, then you shouldn't. But if it's not a question, then you could. That's cuz otherwise you have to walk back. I remember when the Rebbe used to walk home from 770 at night, later years they used to take him by car, except Friday night, but everyday... So I remember I used to be in charge at a certain time of who should escort the Rebbe. No one walked together with the Rebbe, the two bachurim always used to walk behind the Rebbe a little bit, follow the Rebbe when he walked home. But once it happened there was this, other bachur wasn't there, so one bachur was the Rebbe walked out and the other bochur, so this bochur walked by himself. And the Rebbe noticed him. So the Rebbe turned around and he said, \"Where are you going?\" So he said, \"I'm walking with the Rebbe, to to the Rebbe's house.\" So the Rebbe said, \"Then I'm going to have to walk you back.\" So \"Go back!\" He had no choice, he had to go back. I think he ran back and got another bochur and they went. But that's what the Rebbe told him, \"I'll have to walk you back, you walking alone.\" It's not a case of orchim, but the same idea. Yes? If you have non-, if you have non-frum family or friends and you want to invite them to Shabbos, and they do not want to stay over. What should you do? Is it better for them not to be invited, so then they don't make Shabbos, or of course to invite they drive, you know they're going to drive. Oh, this is the this is the $64,000 question. And if you're going to invite guests who are not frum, and the reason you want to invite them is because you want to bring them closer to Yiddishkeit, whether they're family or friends, they're strangers, but you want to bring them close to Yiddishkeit, and you know if you're going to invite them, they're going to drive to your house. Can you invite them for Shabbos? That's a very hard question to answer. And that's a question that comes up daily. I get such calls from shluchim all over, and when in New York we had this יום עיון, the day they that they discussed halachot for the shluchim, and this is the first question that comes up. And the answer basically is: it's very hard to judge general cases, you have to judge each case separately. The general answer is like this: if it's clear that they're going to drive, clear, officially clear, let's say you invite him for Shabbos and he says, \"Rabbi, I'm going to drive to your house,\" you have to tell him, \"Stay home.\" You can't tell him to drive, and if they tell you they're going to drive, you cannot acknowledge it, you have to. If there is a possibility for them not to drive, and they don't say anything, and we know that they're going to drive anyway, they won't drive to your house, they're going to drive to the movies, so then, as long as you didn't tell him and you don't know, and you make available for them that they don't have to drive, then you can invite them. You can invite them and say, \"Come, we have a place for you to stay over.\" Even though in your mind you know that they're going to come, they could come before Shabbos, but after the meal they're going to drive back, but you have to tell them that there's available, or you can tell them there's a hotel available, \"I have friends where you could stay over, you could stay over in my house,\" and that's it. If they answer you clearly, \"You should know, no, no, I'm not staying over, I'm driving back!\" then they can't come, you can't acknowledge it. You can't, because we are not allowed we're not allowed to do an aveirah. Now, the other way, they're doing an aveirah anyway, but we're not causing it, and the only way they'll ever even be able to think of turning and doing teshuvah is by coming to the house. So we have to look for kulot. Basically, it's like this: usually, we try to do everything as strict as possible, everything behidur, we don't look for kulot, we don't look for leniencies, but that's when it comes to ourselves. We can't be strict on the cheshbon of somebody else's loss, that somebody else will not be able to to do to to do teshuvah. On the other hand, if it's a real aveirah, called a מצוה הבאה בעבירה, we can't do a mitzvah through an aveirah. If you're not allowed, you're not allowed. Ay, the question is what will happen, that person will never see a Shabbos and will never become a baal teshuvah? You know whose gesheft that is? It's Hashem's gesheft. The same Hashem who told us to see that people should do teshuvah, that same Hashem told us that in this case you can't call him. So it's on his head, so we can't do anything. But as long as we could find a way within halachah, it has to be within. Otherwise, I want to say very clearly, this is Conservative opinion: let them drive to shul, which is against halachah, we can't break a halachah for anything. But as long as we could find within the framework of halachah, even though it's very lenient, it's not a chumra, chumros we do for ourselves, strictest for ourselves, but not because of our chumra someone else should lose out. So we have to find all kinds of kulos within halacha. The moment it goes over the border of halacha, it's finished. So as long as we don't tell them to drive and they don't tell us they're going to drive, and there is a possibility for them to stay over, if there is no possibility, then you can't invite them either. Then you're telling him to drive, whether you said it or you didn't. That's the teshuva. So say that, \"Don't tell me if you're going to drive.\" Would that be okay to say to them like that? No, you could, you should say, \"You know that you're not allowed to drive on Shabbos.\" And that's it. Now if they say, \"Well, I don't care, I'll drive anyway,\" then you say, \"I'm sorry, we can't have you.\" If they're smart enough not to answer, then you can have them. And you always have to offer that they should stay in your house. In your house or something, you have to tell them that it's available. Those people that you cannot even walk out because you know that they're walking down to the car? Don't walk them out! Don't walk them out. People who go by car, don't walk them out to the car. Because you walk them out, you're acknowledging their driving and it's as if you're giving a heter. So you just walk to the door, and That's it. It's it's it's a very hard, it's a hard thing to do. When you walk them to their car, is that your aveira? Not your aveira, but you're like, no, you're you're telling him, \"I know you're driving and I still want you,\" which is something, it's a very delicate this, and you got to use a lot of seichel in such cases. I have a tiny question. Very often, with my husband and I, we do, we... I shouldn't even... I see a lot of families, they have constantly, they have guests for meals, but it's... but the children suffer. But the chil... but the children are not given the kind of attention that... I remember when I used to do this the שבת פנימה up in Crown Heights, there was one family, I thought for sure she would always take guests. She never took guests. She said she has young children and she wanted to give a chinuch to the children to... So you have to... it's very hard to say. Every person has to judge to see what the limits are, when you take, how you could take, and we're not dealing here in a case where if you won't take, this person will be out in the street. If it's a case like that, and there's no answer, then you have to take. But the person will go to somebody else, and if it'll and if I take him, I won't be able to give a chinuch to my children, so you have to judge it. A person always has to judge and see with a seichel exactly what to do and when and how much. You shouldn't be to the extreme in either side. A person shouldn't be extreme and say, \"Well, I'll never take guests because of that.\" That's narishkeit. But you shouldn't be to the extreme, \"I'll take 50 people every Shabbos and I'll neglect my children.\" That's also wrong.