Know that you must judge all people favorably. This applies even to the worst of people. You must search until you find some little bit of good in them. In that good place inside them, they are not bad! If you can just find this little bit of good and judge them favorably, you really can elevate them and swing the scales of judgment in their favor. This way you can bring them back to God.
Rebbe Nachman, Likutey Moharan I:282

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10/15/2002
Rav Moshe Weinberger
Judging Others Favorably(2)

Not only is it possible to elavate and fix others by judging favorably, it is also possible to do the same to oneself. The inverse is also true but with a twist: whenever we are judging others we are being judged ourselves.

Rav Weinberger teaches a fundamental lesson from the Chofetz Chayim, Shmiras HaLashon, that our judgement depends on how we look at (judge) others in this world. Hashem can judge us with eyes of compassion or eyes of judgement. Meaning, that He can look at our mitzvos in the best way possible (and count each one fully) and look at our sins in the most diminished way possible (and overlook them). The opposite is also true, if we judge others negatively, we will be scrutized the same way by Hashem.

Rav Weinberger also brings a teaching from Rebbe Nachman that he heard from the Baal Shem Tov: Before any negative degree is given in a person's life, he is asked if he agrees with the judgement and if he agrees with the judgement the decree is passed. Rebbe Nachman explains that they ask the individual something similar about someone else. Meaning, this is how you are asked, when you see someone doing something similar to what you have done, how do you judge that person? If negatively, then your judgement is concluded negatively. Rebbe Nachman says this is a very deep concept how each person is asked. Don't pass judgement too quickly.

Three things come when you least expect it: Moshiach, finding a lost object, and a scorpian bite.

Sanhedrin 97a

I head the following story and do not remember the source (it might have been the Yid HaKodesh and Rav Simcha Bunim):

"What will happen when Moshiach comes?" one Rebbe asks the other.
"In the middle of the night, when everyone is sleeping, the shofar will begin to blow and wake everyone up," the other Rebbe answers.
"No, that is not what will happen," the first Rebbe responds, "the night that Moshiach comes, no one will be able to sleep."

A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. The cochlear implant is often referred to as a bionic ear.

This is a video of little Jonathan's Cochlear Implant Activation. It's beautiful. Watch him transform from a noun to a verb.

We must exert ourselves to attain experiential emunah. Our hearts must feel a relationship with our Creator and our minds must feel His presence. In this way we will transform the noun, lifeless rational knowledge, into the verb, a living relationship.

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Rabbi Moshe Wolfson
Wellsprings of Faith, The Origins of Faith

Is is possible to acquire a belief in the Ribbono shel Olan through reason and understanding. Bu using one's intellect to examine the world, one can come to recognize the One God, Who created everything. This pathway to belief is available to all human beings, not only Jews, and for this reason, every individual is expected to beliee in the Rebbono shel Olam.

There is, however, an entirely different type of belief in God - the belief with which a Jew is born. Every Jew knows there is a God in the same instinctive way he knows how to breathe. He doesn't have to figure it out through logic. It is a knowledge that comes from the deepest level of his being. He may not be able to justify this knowledge intellectually or even to articuate it clearly, but it is there, within him. It is hereditary knowledge. A Jew needs only to awaken this instictive knowlege, and it will reconnect him with his Father in Heaven.

The question that we must always be asking ourselves is: how do we awaken this instictive knowledge? How do we transform rational belief, that I believe in God, into a living relationship with Him, and connect to that inner point within us which is the essence of who we are?

The Satmar Rav was once visited by a candidate running for national office. Hoping to garner support and critical votes from the Chassidish community, this man made sure to tell the Rebbe about his staunch pro-Israel political stand.

After the candidate left, some Chassidim who were with the Rebbe in his study, and who had witnessed the exchange, began to laugh. The reason for their reaction was obvious. The Satmar Rav, famous for his position about the negative spiritual impact of the founding of the State of Israel, was a fiery opponent of political Zionism. The Chassidim, therefore, thought it humorous that the politician, obviously unaware of the Rebbe's outlook, was using his supposed appreciation of Israel to garner favor within Satmar circles.

They were surprised when the Rebbe told them that their response was incorrect. "A non-Jew who is anti-Zionist is, in reality, an anti-Semite."

The human soul relishes sensation, not only if it is a pleasant feeling but for the very experience of stimulation. Sooner sadness or some deep pain rather than the boredom of nonstimulation. People will watch distressing scenes and listen to heartrending stories just to get stimulation. Such is human nature and a need of the soul, just like all its other needs and natures. So he who is clever will fulfill this need with passionate prayer and Torah learning. But the soul whose divine service is without emotion will have to find its stimulation elsewhere. It will either be driven to cheap, even forbidden sensation or will become emotionally ill from lack of stimulation.

Rabbi Kalonmus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of Piazeczna, To Heal the Soul

There was a widow who was once rich and always gave generously to charity, but no longer had any money. No one knew about her situation and she felt hopeless to make a change. A close family friend was a chassid of the Apter Rav and he advised her to go to the Rebbe for a blessing. She agreed to go and the chassid made all the arrangements for her.

When the widow finally met the Rebbe and got his blessing, she responded with uncertainty, how can the Rebbe know for certain that it will turn out alright? The Rebbe again blessed her, that she should have plently of money and give generously to charity. But she remained unsure.

So the Rebbe told her a story.

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