A True Tzadik Sees No Bad in Others
The Me’or Einayim (Parshas Chukas) quotes the Baal Shem Tov Hakadosh zy”a as saying that a true tzadik sees no fault in others. If one does see bad in others, it is a sign that he is not a genuine tzadik. He compares this to someone who is looking at himself in a mirror. If he sees a dirty face, it means that his own face is dirty. If he sees a clean, spotless face, it means that his own face is clean.
So too, if one sees bad in others, it is because he is seeing his own faults. With this in mind, he explains the pasuk (Vayikroh 19:18) of “v’ahavta l’reacha kamocha” to mean that just like one would not hate himself if he recognized some flaw in himself, so too one should not have negative feelings towards his friend, even if he sees a flaw in him.
Just like one would not focus on his own bad parts and would still love himself, one should feel the same way towards his friend. He concludes with a hint to this concept from the verse in Tehillim (34:13): “Who is the man who desires life, he loves days to see good.”
This can be understood to mean that one who lives the life of a tzadik desires to only see good in his fellow men.
Reprinted from the Parshas Chayei Sarah 5785 email of The Way of Emunah: Collected Thoughts from Rabbi Meir Isamar Rosenbaum.
