Reb Avigdor Miller zt'l said that smiling is a segulah for attaining good judgment. He added, "I know you think I'm old, and I don't know what I'm talking about, but this is good advice. If you smile at people, you will merit a good year."
He explained this with a mashal:
A storeowner was taking stock at the end of the year of the profits and losses of the store and concluded that he must cut costs. Some employees will have to go.
His advisor said, "No matter what you do, don't fire Mr. So-and-so. He always has a smile on his face, and customers love him. Some customers come to your store just because he is there."
Reb Avigdor Miller explained that if you smile to others, Heaven will say, "You are needed in the world. People need you. They receive joy from you. So, I will keep you alive."
Furthermore, Hashem will provide all his needs so he can continue smiling because this service is so precious to Hashem.
Reb Yisrael Salanter zt'l also taught a similar lesson. He explained that those who do chesed stand a better chance of receiving a good judgment on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Even if they don’t deserve to live by their own merit, they will be granted life because people need them.
Chazal (Rosh Hashanah 16:) say, תפילה תשובה הגזירה רוע את מעבירין וצדקה, "Teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah annul the harsh decrees." Some people don’t have much money. How can they give tzedakah? How can they annul harsh decrees? They can give a small amount according to their abilities. Additionally, all forms of helping one's fellow man are included in the concept of tzedakah.
Someone asked the Chazon Ish zt'l why he spends so much of his time giving counsel to people. "Wouldn't your time be better spent learning Torah?"
The Chazon Ish replied, "If I had a lot of money, I would spend this time distributing money to the poor. Since I don't have much money, this is my way of helping others."
It pasuk writes "(Vayikra 19) תתן לא עור ולפני מכשול, "You shall not place a stumbling block before a blind person." Rabbeinu Yonah (Shaarei Teshuvah 3:53-54) writes, "This pasuk teaches us the importance of giving good counsel when someone asks for advice and not causing them to stumble over improper advice...” We should also be proactive in thinking of ways to help others. This is one of the primary paths of gemilus chasadim, as it states (Mishlei 27:9) ומתק לב ישמח וקטרת שמן נפש מעצת רעהו, 'Oil and incense make the heart rejoice, and the sweet words of his friend's counsel are more valuable than one's own counsel.
Teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah remove the harsh judgment. The Leket Yosher explains how tzedakah removes harsh judgment. Before quoting the Leket Yosher, I want to make a few introductions:
It states (Mishlei 19:17) דל חונן 'ה מלוה, "He who is gracious to a poor man lends to Hashem." The Maharal (Bava Basra 9:) explains, "Hashem created the world, and He must take care of it. He created the poor, so He must give them parnassah. Therefore, when someone helps a poor person, it is like he lends money to Hashem."
Another pasuk (Mishlei 22:7) states לוה עבד מלוה לאיש, that a borrower is like a slave to the lender. When we put together both concepts, we discover an astonishing phenomenon. As the Gemara (Bava Basra 10.) says, "If the pasuk wouldn't state it, we wouldn't be permitted to say it. Keviyachol, the borrower (Hashem), is a slave to the lender (the person who helped the poor)!"
After seeing these introductions, we are ready to read the Leket Yosher's (vol.1 p.122) lesson:
"I found in the writings of the chaver Reb Moshe Levi Mintz zt'l, quoting Reb [Yisrael] Iserlin zt'l, that on Shabbos teshuvah, after the Torah was read and was returned to its place, he spoke about teshuvah and tzedakah, and he taught several benefits that are gained from giving tzedakah. He quoted the pasuk (Mishlei 19:17) ,לו ישלם וגמולו דל חונן 'ה מלוה 'He who is gracious to a poor man lends to Hashem, and He will repay him his reward.' This means that when one gives tzedakah to the poor, it is like he gave the money to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And since we are lending money to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we are the lenders, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the borrower. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 31:) says that...when there is a din Torah, a borrower must go to the beis din of the lender’s choice because מלוה לאיש לוה עבד, the borrower is like a slave to the lender. So, keviyachol, this is how it will be with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. When we help the poor, it is like we lent money to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and so, on the day of judgment, when Hashem wants to judge us, we can tell Hashem that we want to go to the great beis din of compassion." We can choose to be judged in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's beis din of compassion, and our requests must be fulfilled because we are the lenders, and we have a right to decide which court to go to. The Leket Yosher concludes, "And therefore, one should give tzedakah so that he will be the lender."
A community near Radin asked a bachur from the Chofetz Chaim's yeshiva to join them for Rosh Hashanah. They wanted him to give over divrei Torah and mussar on Rosh Hashanah to arouse them to teshuvah.
The bachur refused, wanting to be with the Chofetz Chaim on Rosh Hashanah.
The Chofetz Chaim found out and rebuked the bachur, "A mentch leibt nisht far zich — man doesn't live for himself." A person came down to this world to help others.
The bachur went to the neighboring town for Rosh Hashanah.
Someone spent most of his Rosh Hashanah in the hospital helping a sick friend. Rebbe Shlomke of Zvhil zy'a commented that this man is a "ben Olam HaBa." He didn’t daven much on that day, but he will inherit Olam HaBah in the merit of the chesed he performed.
On the pasuk, לך תתן ושוטרים שופטים, the Kedushas Levi writes, "On Rosh Hashanah, we must rouse Hashem's attributes of compassion so that Hashem will have compassion on us. When we act kindly to others and judge every Yid favorably, this will rouse Hashem to do the same, and He will judge all Yidden favorably. This is the translation of the pasuk, לך תתן ושוטרים שופטים, you can arrange the judgment of heaven... צדק משפט העם את ושפטו, by judging your fellow man favorably. Because the way a person acts to others is how Heaven will act with him."
The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 25) states, "Rebbe said to Reb Chiya 'Go to טב עין (a city where there was a prominent beis din) and establish [Rosh Hashanah]." טב עין literally means "good eye."
The Chidushei HaRim zt’l said that this Gemara indicates that we should have a good eye on Rosh Hashanah. A good eye means seeing the good in others, forgiving, helping others, etc. This will help us in our judgment.
The Gemara (Yoma 23) says, "Whoever is maavir al midosov [and is mevater] Hashem will forgive his aveiros."
In a beis midrash two hundred years ago, the gabbai accidentally sold the same seat to two people for the Rosh Hashanah tefillos. When they both came to sit at the same seat, they realized there was a problem. They quickly went over to the gabbai to clarify the matter.
The gabbai checked his files and admitted that he had made a mistake. He had sold the seat twice.
One of them would need to be mevater, but neither wanted to. On Rosh Hashanah night, there weren't so many people in the Beis Midrash, and they both had a place to daven. But they (and everyone around them) knew there would be an argument over the seat the following morning.
That night, one of the two men had a dream. He saw beautiful caravans being led by malachim. "What's this all about?" he asked a malach.
"Today is Rosh Hashanah. The wagons are carrying your good deeds. They will be placed on a scale to determine what type of year you will have."
Soon, he saw very ugly caravans led by frightening-looking angels. "What's happening now?" he asked.
"These are your aveiros. They will be placed on the other side of the scale."
The man looked up at the enormous scale set in the middle of the road and saw that it was tipping to the side of fault. He was frightened.
The beis din ruled that he would die that year because of his many sins.
Then a compassionate angel arrived and said, "This man had a lot of yesurim (pain and troubles) this year, and yesurim atone."
The angels began to remove from the scale several packages of sins. The yesurim took away some aveiros. The two sides of the scale were almost equal, but it was still slightly tipped to the side of sin.
The merciful angel said, "If this person was mevater (gave in to others to avoid a machlokes), we could remove some more packages of sins because Chazal say that vitur removes aveiros. Let's check his deeds to see whether he is mevater."
Still sleeping, the man understood that he should be mevater his seat. This would save him. "I'm mevater!" he shouted. "I'm mevater!" and then he awoke.
In the morning, he quickly ran to the gabbai and told him that he gladly gave up his seat to the other person.
Shame and Yesurim
A person suffering from a dibbuk was brought to the Chofetz Chaim zt’l. Reb Elyah Lopian zt'l, who was present, repeated that this dibbuk avoided G-d fearing people and enjoyed being near sinful people. There was a great sinner in the room, and the dibbuk hugged and kissed him and listed all the sins he did. After doing this, the dibbuk no longer wanted to have anything to do with this man. People in the room asked the dibbuk why he left this person who was a sinner. The dibbuk replied, "After I publicly revealed his sins, his embarrassment purified him. Now he's a tzaddik, so I don’t want to have anything to do with him anymore."
