Rabbi Yochanan said, “Receiving guests is just as great as studying the Torah. How do we know that? – From a previous ruling that one may clear away boxes of straw for guests and students, with guests mentioned first.”
Rav Yehudah said, “Receiving guests is more important than communicating with God.” The proof? – Abraham, who was having a prophetic vision, told God, “My Master, please wait till I greet the guests.”
There are six things for which a person receives a reward in this world, and this reward is only a dividend (fruit), but the main rewards still remains for him in the next world: receiving guests, visiting the sick, concentration in prayer, rising early to study Torah, raising his children to the study of Torah, and judging his fellow favorably.
The Talmud gives three examples of going to the extreme in judging a righteous man favorably, even when circumstances seem to indicate otherwise, but for regular people this does not apply, and favorable judgment is only required if the indications of good and bad intentions are equally weighed.
Art: Charles Desire Hue - Visiting a sick friend
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