In these three
words Rabbi Mordechai Groner shares with us a series of pass words that will take
us past the barriers that stand between us and the good kvittel that will give
us yet another year to effect a gut rehab that will transform our total essence.
By means of Look,
Judge, and See we are able to leverage Hashem’s system of midda keneg midda
(measure for measure) in our favor to such an extent that our actions in this
regard are actually co-extensive with the first draft of our judgment.
Everything else
we do during the Yemei HaDin, be it Tefillah, Teshuva or Tzedakah is for the purpose
of getting that first draft signed in indelible ink.
Look, says Rabbi Groner, at everyone with an ayin
tov. In the way we look at yenem
that’s how Hashem will look at us. And
as far as Hashem is concerned, you can take it to the bank. But we’re a different story.
You have four
kids in shidduchim and your neighbor’s girls are always engaged before their
twentieth birthday. You may be able to
effortlessly flash a sincere smile but you can’t fake your ayin tov, or
rather the lack thereof. When put to a
test it doesn’t come easy but that’s the only way to merit Hashem flashing an ayin
tov in your direction. If not for
your Yetzer Hora stirring the pot what would your ayin tov be worth
anyway?
Rabbi Groner
also admonishes us to judge
everyone favorably, and if that’s not a ticket just waiting to get
punched by Hashem for a good year then what is?
But the devil’s in the details because everyone means everyone, not just tzaddikim
and other people of which you happen to approve.
And favorably
means in a case where unfavorably is at least as likely to be the
correct assessment of the situation on the ground. But it’s much more than that because we’re not
speaking in a halachic context as to when we are required to judge others
favorably. To have Hashem judge us
favorably in all circumstances no matter how rough the edges, we have to judge everyone favorably even in the most
unfavorable circumstances.
Rabbi Groner
also lets us hear that we have to see the good in people.
And this one
doesn’t come easy either because the default position of most of humanity is to
notice in others the aberrations of the norm as defined by us. Seeing the good in others requires us to
penetrate layers of what we shouldn’t be looking at just to get to that upon which
we should be casting our gaze.
As
we said in GuardYourSpeak:
The One Thing, There’s
someone in your shul that shows up late every morning about two minutes before
Borchu, and he doesn’t come rushing in either. And it just so happens
that you’re the first one there. You don’t know him that well but you do
know that there’s nothing doing in his house that would slow him up in the
morning.
What
we see here is most definitely not what we get because we’re talking here about
our inability to see past our self imposed delineation of reality.
In
contexts such as these, when there is a clear distinction in our favor between
our avoda and that of our friend, it never occurs to us that for all we know maybe
coming late to shul is the one thing he does wrong whereas coming early is the
one thing we do right.
Seeing the good in people means if the good is not readily apparent then keep looking until you find it because it’s surely there. And as far as your field of vision is concerned, nothing else exists.
And if we do it right, then Hashem will
look for our good until He finds it, and as far as His field of
vision is concerned nothing else will exist.
