Chesapeake Torah

I would like to share with you a thought I saw recently from the Baal
Shem Tov (1698-1760, known as the founder of the chassidic movement)
which made a tremendous impact on me.

There is a mitzvah of b’tzedek tishpot amisecho, to judge one’s friend
favorably. If one sees his friend doing something which looks
incorrect or suspicious, there is a commandment in the Torah to judge
his friend favorably and find a reason (even not the correct one!) for
what his friend is doing. This can be extremely challenging at times.
The Baal Shem Tov brought out an amazing fact that has the potential
to completely change one’s attitude in dealing with others.

When we find ourselves judging someone else, that person may look like
he is transgressing a commandment, or that person may look like he is
not treating another person fairly. If we find ourselves grappling
with the idea of looking at such a person in a favorable light, the
Baal Shem Tov offers a way to deal with this. He says that the person
who is doing the judging may has already done something similar in his
own life! G-d is giving this person the opportunity to be the judge
of his own situation. If this person judges the other person
favorably, then G-d will do the same towards him.

Whenever we do something which may be improper, we always justify it
to ourselves. We should take this ability to justify and apply it to
the actions of others!

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

Naftali