Good for Nothing

Shmuel and Chaim are strolling home from Shul one Shabbos morning. Suddenly a cab speeds past, and their friend, Yossel, is seen running frantically behind it, flailing his arms wildly.

"Well," said Chaim, "I never imagined our good friend Yossel was a Mechalel Shabbos! Look at him running for that taxi."

"Wait a minute," Shmuel replied. "Didn't we just learn to judge people favorably? I'll bet we can think of hundreds of excuses for Yossel's behavior."

"Yeah, like what?"

"Maybe he's sick and needs to go to the hospital."

"Come on! He was running 60 miles an hour after that cab - he's healthier than Og Melech Habashan."

"Well, maybe his wife's having a baby."

"She just had one last week."

"Well, maybe he needs to visit her in the hospital."

"She's home."

"Well, maybe he's running to the hospital to get a doctor."

"He is a doctor."

"Well, maybe he needs supplies from the hospital..."

"The hospital is a three minute walk in the opposite direction."

"Well, maybe he forgot that it's Shabbos!"

"Of course he knows it's Shabbos. Didn't you see his tie? It was his paisley beige 100% silk tie from Italy. He never wears it during the week."

"Wow, you're really observant! I didn't even notice he was wearing a tie."

"How could you not notice? Didn't you see how it was stuck on the back fender of the taxi?"

***

.יהושע בן פרחי-ה אומר... והוי דן את כל האדם לכף זכות

(אבות, א:ו)

We may think: “Well, I know it is wrong for me to say that he was wrong, because perhaps he had a good reason for doing what he did. But, I can’t think of any justification… I guess just won’t judge him at all.”

I would like to suggest a deeper meaning and, perhaps, a different application of this Misnha.

Hashem does not ask of us to get creative and find reasons for the other person's actions. If this is what the Mishna meant for us to do, it would have said: תמצא עליו זכות, "Find a merit for his actions".

Instead the Mishna writes:הוי דן את כל האדם לכף זכות , [just] judge to the “side of merit”. Meaning, just judge him favorably, "to the side of merit", without having come up with a reason to justify his actions. 

Perhaps we need to accept people as "Good. For nothing" - without looking for justifications that makes sense to us - “I do not need to know why he did what he did... I judge him favorably nevertheless.”

May the increase of Shalom tilt the scales to our זכות and being us Moshiach NOW!