8:33 PM
Gil Student
Over Shabbos, I was discussing with my wife the recent stories in the news about prominent members of the frum community whose sins (particularly sex-related) have been recently publicly revealed. My wife wisely said that it is incumbent upon us to believe that, if these allegations are true, these people are the rare exceptions and certainly nowhere near the norm in our community. If we believe that adhering to basic standards is unusual then we will be more complacent with our own spiritual standing. For selfish reasons, if for no other, we must judge our community favorably.
My wife is not learned enough to have sources for this idea but her pious intuition served her well. This can be found in R. Yitzhak of Corbille’s Semak, mitzvah 225:
Included in this [mitzvah] is to judge one’s fellow favorably because through judging favorably one will think that no one sins but me, and will repent/return to his Creator...
