You Be the Judge

"The road of life is rocking, and you may stumble too. So while you talk about me, someone else is judging you" (BM)

Judge, but judge wisely

We always know best. Ask anyone. Everyone always thinks that they know best.
But do we? Are we always right? Must we be always right?
In Judaism, we are taught that we truly don't know everything. In fact, there's a whole lot we don't know.
But that's not just about the world in general. It's also about people.
We have a rule: Dan l'Kaf Z'chus, judge on the side of merit.
There are always two sides to every story. If we can recognize that, then we would clearly realize that we don't know everything.
Far from it.

There was one particular fellow who was very close to HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, shlit"a, one of the very greatest and most important Torah luminaries of our time, along with his father-in-law, the most sought after authority in Eretz Yisroel today, HaRav Sholom Eliyashiv, shlit"a. There was one thing about this man that Rav Chaim wanted to change - the fact that he was a smoker. One day, when the man came to speak with Rav Chaim, he was greeted with a request, "Since you respect what I say, I'd like to ask you one thing: stop smoking."
If the Gadol ha'Dor says something, you do it! And thus, the fellow immediately stopped smoking.
Soon thereafter, the fellow was a guest at a wedding, and found himself speaking to a friend who smoked. The friend turned to him and asked him to hold his cigarette while he used the bathroom. As he stood there holding the cigarette, Rav Chaim, who just happened to also be at the wedding, passed at a distance and nodded.
The fellow's heart dropped. "Maybe Rav Chaim will think poorly of me since he saw me with a cigarette! He'll think that I didn't keep my word!"
Fearful at the horrible thought, the man approached Rav Chaim and asked him what he thought had happened.
Rav Chaim said matter-of-factly, "I figured that you were just holding the cigarette for someone else!"

What may seem simple to a great tzaddik takes the rest of us time and energy to achieve. However, if we try to be a bit more creative and understanding, we, too, can arrive at the same conclusion.

Say to yourself ten times today:
"Hashem, please give me the patience and wisdom to judge everyone with merit today!"