Does anyone have a davar Torah on Rosh Hashana?

Answer 1

Rosh Hashana Rosh Hashana

Rosh Hashana (known as the Day of Judgment) is the day in which Hashem decides all earthly matters.

But guess what? Instead of judging the whole world Himself, Hashem allows each and every person to be the judge for themselves!

The Gemara (Shabbat, 127b) states that one who judges others favorably will in return be judged favorably by Hashem. In fact, Chazal say that Hashem judges us exactly how we judge others! For this reason, Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz states that this is the most important mitzvah to fulfill in order to have a successful Rosh Hashana.

The question is: Why does Hashem allow us to get away with sinning just because we judge others favorably when they sin?

The sefer Mitzvot HaLevavot writes that if one judges their friends favorably then they will come to fulfill all the mitzvot between man and his fellow! For example, the Chofetz Chaim writes (Hilchos Lashon Hara, chapter 3) that nearly all cases of Lashon Hara in the Torah were a direct cause of judging others unfavorably. Similarly, the Sefer HaChinuch (mitzvah 235) writes that the main purpose of this mitzvah is to create a peaceful society. Through judging others favorably one will automatically come to perform all the mitzvot between man and friend. Therefore, it could be that by creating a strong connection with others by judging them favorably, Hashem in return creates a strong connection with that person and judges him the same exact way.

I think we could learn from the following story how we should all fulfill this mitzvah...

The Gemara (Shabbat, 127b) relates the following story: A man in the north (Rabbi Akiva) hired himself out to a man in the south for 3 years. At the end of the 3 year period (Erev Yom Kippur) he requested his wages, to which the employer responded that he had no money. The worker then requested his wages in produce, land, animals, pillows, blankets...but each time the employer responded that he had none. A little later (after Sukkot) the employer came back with the wages and 3 donkeys full of foods, drinks and delicacies. After eating and drinking the employer asked the worker what he thought when all his requests were denied. The worker responded: When you denied having money, I thought you spent all your money on merchandise. Regarding your animals and land, I thought you had rented them out. For your produce, I assumed it was not tithed yet. And regarding your pillows and blankets, I thought you must have pledged all your property for the Beis Hamikdash. The employer then told him he was right on all accounts and said that since he judged favorably, Hashem should in return judge him favorably as well (see Gemara, Shabbat 127b, for 2 other interesting stories on this topic).

Now, how does one come to view other people through "pink colored glasses"?

I think were all capable of judging others favorably, even if we need to be completely unrealistic at times. We should all have the same frame of mind in which we have when we lose something for when we see others sinning...When one looks for something they lost, they first search in all the common places in which their object could be found. However, if that fails, they then start to look in more unusual places in order to find what they lost. If that fails then they'll search in extremely atypical places out of desperateness--even re-searching previously searched spots. A person will sometimes search in literally every possible place just to find a missing object. We should all have the same mind when it comes judging our friends. When you see your friend sinning, you should know that there are so many possible reasons why they may be doing it. Just like we would search out all possibilities just to find a missing object--so too we should search for all possible excuses when we see one of our friends sinning.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev was known for judging others favorably...The story is told that one Shabbat he saw one of his Jewish neighbors smoking a cigarette...So he went to his neighbor and said, "You probably started smoking because you didn't know it was Shabbat." But his neighbor replied that he knew it was Shabbat. Rabbi Levi replied, "Well then, you probably didn't know that one isn't allowed to smoke on Shabbat." But the man answered that he knew he isn't allowed to smoke on Shabbat. Trying to think positively, Rabbi Levi then said, "You probably need to smoke for your health"...But again, the man replied that he didn't need to smoke for any health reasons. So Rabbi Levi then looked up and called out to Hashem, "See how honest your people are! Even when they commit a sin, they don't compound it by lying about it!"

Summary: On Rosh Hashana, Hashem judges us exactly how we judge others. Therefore, in order to have a favorable judgment we must all judge our friends favorably. In fact, Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz states that judging others favorably is the most important mitzvah to fulfill for a successful Rosh Hashana. The greatness of judging ones friends favorably is that one will automatically come to fulfill all the mitzvot between man and his fellow (Mitzvot HaLevavot). We should all learn from Rabbi Akiva (Shabbat, 127b) and Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev how to judge others favorably. When one searches for a missing object they'll search in every place possible--Similarly, one should search for all possible excuses when they see one of their friends sinning. May we all merit a favorable judgment!

Source: http://jasonbehar.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/09/rosh_hashana.html