Rabbi Shalom Meir Wallach
The weekly Torah portion of Masei states: “The testimony of a single witness (is insufficient) to put a person to death.”
The Rambam writes in his commentary (“Book of Commandments”): “A witness must take care not to judge the person about whom he is testifying, even if he is wise and knowledgeable—for a person cannot be both a witness and a judge. He should simply describe what he saw and then remain silent. The judges will then deal with his testimony as they see fit.”
These words are binding on us in every area of life. We know that there is a positive commandment to judge others favorably: “Judge your fellow fairly.” Now we see that there is also a negative commandment not to condemn others: “A single witness is insufficient.” Do not draw conclusions. There may be factors you are unaware of, details you did not see, circumstances you do not know about. Did you see what happened? You may testify to it. But do not draw conclusions or pass judgment!
Rabbi Aryeh Levin, the Jerusalem sage and righteous man, related: “Once I attended the funeral of Rabbi Elazar Rivlin, one of Jerusalem's sages. The deceased had a close friend, Rabbi Shmuel Kook. They had been friends for more than thirty years. Naturally, he too was accompanying his friend on his final journey. Suddenly, I saw him leave the group of mourners and enter… a flower shop! I thought, ‘Good heavens, is that how an old friend should behave? Instead of accompanying his friend to the cemetery, he goes shopping?’ A couple of minutes later, he emerged holding a flowerpot and headed in another direction.
I could not restrain myself. I caught up with him and asked, ‘Rabbi Shmuel, you were a close and devoted friend of the deceased! Why are you suddenly leaving the funeral in full view of everyone and going to buy flowers?’
‘You see,’ he replied, ‘for several years I cared for a patient with leprosy. Yesterday he died, and the doctors decided to burn all his belongings so that no one would use them and become infected, G-d forbid. But among his belongings were tefillin! When I learned this, I was utterly shocked and kept urging the doctor to let me put them in a clay pot and bury them in the ground, as Torah law requires. The doctor agreed on the condition that I bring the pot today before ten in the morning. Meanwhile, I was informed of the death of my dear friend, Rabbi Elazar. Of course, I came to his funeral. But, to my great regret, I saw that the funeral was taking longer than expected. I am afraid the doctor will not wait… So I went into this shop and wanted to buy a clay pot. But the shopkeeper said that they do not sell pots separately, only with flowers. So I had to buy this pot, and I want to throw away the flower so that I can put the tefillin inside. Now, Rabbi Aryeh, please let me hurry to the hospital. It is already half past nine, and if we continue talking, the tefillin may be burned.’
“From that day on,” Rabbi Aryeh continued, “I took it upon myself to judge every person favorably!”
Let us try to behave the same way: not to condemn others, or better still—not to judge at all!
We can learn this from the way we treat… ourselves! We are imperfect, aren't we? Yet we judge each of our own actions favorably. We endlessly invent excuses: this time we were tired, that time we were nervous; then we did not know or did not expect it, and now we did not think… And all of this is true! But we need to understand that other people have the same excuses!
Fortunate is the lot of one who judges others favorably, for it is said of him: “Just as you judged me favorably, so the Almighty will judge you favorably!”
Translation: Mrs. Leah Shukhman