The Ultimate Chesed: Seeing Others With Rose-Colored Glasses

You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God: I am the LORD. You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich; in righteousness shall you judge your nation (be-tzedek tishpot amitecha). Do not deal basely with your countrymen. Do not profit by the blood of your fellow: I am the LORD.

The Sages taught:...Alternatively, it is derived from the verse: “In righteousness shall you judge your nation,” that you should judge another favorably, and seek to find justification for their actions, even if when interpreted differently their actions could be judged unfavorably (Rashi).

(6) Yehoshua ben Perachiah and Nitai of Arbel received from them. Yehoshua ben Perachia says, "Make for yourself a teacher, acquire for yourself a friend, and judge every person (kol ha-adam) as meritorious."

...Also, what the (rabbis) stated that each person is required to judge his/her friend favorably...promotes peace and friendship and therefore, the purpose of this mitzvah (the mitzvah to judge righteously) is to improve society with a sense of righteousness and provide peace by removing suspicion from one another.

(1) ...And judge every person as meritorious. On everything that you hear about a person, say that they intended for good, until you know with certainty that it is not so. If you judge thus, they will judge you from heaven as meritorious, as is explained in the 18th chapter of Masechet Shabbat ("Perek Mefanin").

The Sages taught in a baraita: One who judges another favorably is himself judged favorably.

And there was an incident involving a certain person who descended from the Upper Galilee and was hired to work for a certain homeowner in the South for three years.

On the eve of the Day of Atonement, he said to the homeowner: Give me my wages, and I will go and feed my wife and children.

The homeowner said to him: I have no money.

He said to him: In that case, give me my wages in the form of produce.

He said to him: I have none.

The worker said to him: Give me my wages in the form of land.

The homeowner said to him: I have none.

The worker said to him: Give me my wages in the form of animals.

He said to him: I have none.

The worker said to him: Give me cushions and blankets.

He said to him: I have none.

The worker slung his tools over his shoulder behind him and went to his home in anguish.

After the festival of Sukkot, the homeowner took the worker’s wages in his hand, along with a burden that required three donkeys, one laden with food, one laden with drink, and one laden with types of sweets, and went to the worker’s home. After they ate and drank, the homeowner gave him his wages.

The homeowner said to him: When you said to me: Give me my wages, and I said: I have no money, of what did you suspect me? Why did you not suspect me of trying to avoid paying you?

The worker answered, I said: Perhaps the opportunity to purchase merchandise [perakmatya] inexpensively presented itself, and you purchased it with the money that you owed me, and therefore you had no money available.

The homeowner asked: And when you said to me: Give me animals, and I said: I have no animals, of what did you suspect me?

The worker answered: I said: Perhaps the animals are hired to others.

The homeowner asked: When you said to me: Give me land, and I said: I have no land, of what did you suspect me?

The worker answered: I said: Perhaps the land is leased to others, and you cannot take the land from the lessees.

The homeowner asked: And when you said to me: Give me produce, and I said: I have no produce, of what did you suspect me?

The worker answered: I said: Perhaps they are not tithed, and that was why you could not give them to me.

The homeowner asked: And when I said: I have no cushions or blankets, of what did you suspect me?

The worker answered: I said: Perhaps he consecrated all his property to Heaven and therefore has nothing available at present.

The homeowner said to him: I swear by the Temple service that it was so...

And when I came to my fellow residents in the South, the Sages of that generation, they dissolved all my vows. At that point, the homeowner had immediately gone to pay his worker.

Now the homeowner said: And you, just as you judged favorably, so may God judge you favorably.

(3) (3) And sometimes he also transgresses (Vayikra 19:5): "In righteousness shall you judge your neighbor." For example, if one sees his friend saying something or doing something, which may be perceived as righteous and meritorious or as the reverse, even if he [his friend] is a mediocre person, we are obligated by the Torah in this positive commandment to judge him in the scales of merit. (And if that man is G–d-fearing, we are obligated to judge him in the scales of merit even if they incline more to guilt than to merit.) And one who goes and speaks demeaningly of him because of this thing that he said or that he did, or the receiver [of these words], who perceives him negatively because of what he has heard about him, and does not judge him in the scales of merit, transgresses this positive commandment.

"and judge every person as meritorious": This is speaking about a person about whom we do not know if he is righteous or if he is evil; or if we know that he is a moderate person, sometimes doing evil and sometimes doing good. And if he does something that can make us judge him unfavorably and [also] judge him favorably in our understanding - or even if, (towards) according to what appears, it leans more towards the side of guilt - if he can judge him favorably from one aspect of the matter, he should say, "His intentions were good." But these words are not [applicable] to the completely righteous or the completely evil. As with the righteous person, even with an action that is completely evil and leans toward guilt in every aspect, we should judge him favorably and say, "'It was a mistake that came out from the hand of the ruler,' and behold he regretted and observed [it] and [already] requested forgiveness." And it is like the sages, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 19a), "If you see a Torah scholar who sinned at night, do not ruminate about him during the day, lest he has repented. 'Lest' comes into your mind? But rather, I will say he certainly repented." The explanation of "'Lest' comes into your mind?" is that since he is a Torah scholar and up until now, no corrupt thing has come to his hand; he certainly repented right away. You behold [from here that] one should never judge the perfectly righteous person unfavorably. And about him there is no reason to say, "judge every person as meritorious." And he also did not speak about the completely evil person. Even if his actions are completely good and it is not evident to be concerned about him regarding an angle of iniquity, a person should judge him unfavorably and say, "He did it on the surface 'and his inside is not like his outside.'" And it is like it is stated (Proverbs 26:25), "Though he be fair-spoken do not trust him, for seven abominations are in his heart." And so [too] wrote Rambam, may his memory be blessed. And about this Shlomo stated in his wisdom (Proverbs 21:12), "The righteous one observes the house of the wicked man; he subverts the wicked to the bad." He meant to say, people think that because the righteous do not know how to do evil, [hence] they do not recognize they ways of the evil - as they do not understand those that do it. And the matter is not like this, as 'the righteous one observes the house of the wicked,' and knows and recognizes and monitors the evil of his ways more than other people who know [about it], but don't pay attention to it. "He subverts the wicked to the bad" - when the righteous person sees the action of the evildoers which appear to be in a good path, he subverts it and pushes it towards his judgment to say that he has done wrong - since he did not intend [to do] a commandment, but rather to place himself among those assumed to be good.