Counsels for a Good Judgment
1] When asked what a person can do to merit a good judgment, Reb Avigdor Miller zt'l replied, "He should smile." Then he explained, "I know you think that 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 of the profits and losses at the end of the year, 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; the customers love him. Some customers come to your store just because he is there."
Reb Avigdor Miller explained that if you smile at others, Hashem will say, "You are needed in the world. People need you. They receive joy from you, so I will keep you alive."
Similarly, Reb Yisrael Salanter zt'l taught 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 merit, they will be granted life because people need them.
Chazal (Rosh Hashanah 16:) say, וצדקה תפילה תשובה הגזירה רוע את מעבירין, "Teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah annul the harsh decrees." If you don't have money to give tzedakah, you can do kindness to your fellow man. That is like a form of tzedakah, and it removes harsh decrees.
In תוקף ונתנה we say, כסאך בחסד ויכון, with deeds of chesed, one causes that Hashem should sit on the throne of rachamim during the judgment.
2] Another way to ensure a good judgment is to judge your fellow man favorably. We are constantly judging people. When we judge people favorably, Hashem will judge us favorably as well. On the pasuk, שופטים לך תתן ושוטרים, the Kedushas Levi writes, "When we... judge every Yid favorably, Hashem will do the same. He will judge all Yidden favorably. This is the translation of the pasuk, לך תתן ושוטרים שופטים, you can arrange the judgment of heaven ... משפט העם את ושפטו צדק, by judging your fellow man favorably. Because how a person acts toward others is how Heaven will act with him."
3] Another counsel for a good judgment is to be mevater. The Gemara (Yoma 23) says, "Whoever is maavir al midosov [and is mevater] Hashem will forgive his aveiros."
4] The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16:) states, "Three sefarim are opened on Rosh Hashanah... The beinonim wait from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur. If they merit it, they will be written for life. Otherwise, they will be written for death." Therefore, people increase their merits during these days, and thereby they will be inscribed for life.
There was a person who spoke a lot – a nudnik – and most people didn't have patience for him. One year, erev Yom Kippur in the afternoon, this man came to speak to Rebbe Mordechai Shlomo of Boyan zt'l, and the rebbe listened to him patiently. When this person left the house, the family asked the rebbe how he had the patience to listen to him. The rebbe replied that the Igeres HaRamban writes that one should speak calmly and nicely עת ובכל אדם לכל, "to every person, and at all times". אדם לכל, means to all people, even a person who is bothersome. עת ובכל means at all times, even on erev Yom Kippur.
Hershel Kaminetzer was an older bachur, alone in the world. He never got married because he had health issues. Hershel told Rav Shach zt'l that he was once in Radin for Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur night, after the tefillos, all the bachurim and mispallelim left the beis medresh, and he was left alone in the beis medresh, feeling lonely and sorry for himself. Then the Chofetz Chaim zt'l came in, and the Chofetz Chaim conversed with him the entire night, until the morning. The Chofetz Chaim sensed that this bachur needed chizuk, and although time was always a precious commodity for the Chofetz Chaim, and certainly so on the night of Yom Kippur, he understood that at this time, the most important thing was to give chizuk to this broken and bitter bachur.
9. In a beis midrash three hundred years ago, the gabbai accidentally sold the same seat to two people for the Rosh Hashanah tefillos. When they both came to sit in 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 sold the seat to two people. 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 each 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. These 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 in the middle of the road and saw it tipping to the side of guilt, and he became terrified. The beis din ruled that he would die that year because of his many sins. Then a compassionate angel arrived and said, "This man suffered a lot of yesurim (pain and troubles) this year, and yesurim atone." The angels began to remove from the scale several packages of sins. His yesurim wiped away some aveiros. The two sides of the scale were almost equal, but it was still slightly tipped to the side of guilt and sin. The merciful angel spoke up again, "If this person was mevater (gave in to others to avoid 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. That 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.
10. One year, on erev Yom Kippur, the Chasam Sofer zt'l thought of a shidduch between two orphans and asked his daughter to be the shadchan. She replied, "I will take care of it right after Yom Kippur." The Chasam Sofer asked her to take care of it immediately because he wanted this merit for Yom Kippur. Later that day, she returned to her father and said, "The orphan boy is reluctant because the girl doesn't have any money." The Chasam Sofer replied, "Tell him he will have parnassah his entire life. Perhaps he won't be wealthy, but he will have parnassah." The Chasam Sofer's daughter passed on the message, and the shidduch was finalized that day. That year, the Chasam Sofer arrived at beis medresh for Kol Nidrei later than usual. The mitzvah of the shidduch took up some time, and he came late. The gabai pointed to the clock, hinting that it was late. The Chasam Sofer told him, "It isn't late. Heaven begins the judgment when I say Kol Nidrei." Once, the Chasam Sofer's son-in-law saw a pillar of fire in the Chasam Sofer's home on erev Yom Kippur and fainted from fright. The Chasam Sofer told him that the pillar of fire was Eliyahu HaNavi. Despite the Chasam Sofer's greatness, he felt he needed one more mitzvah before the day of judgment. We should do the same. We should ask ourselves, "What good deed can I do to merit a good year? What good kabbalah can I undertake that can tip the scales in my favor?"
11. Shem MiShmuel explains that even the very best of the goyim (העולם אומות חסידי), don't perform their good deeds with hislahavus. When a Yid serves Hashem with hislahavus, this demonstrates that we are far superior to even the best goy, and this helps us secure a favorable judgment on these days.
12. The source for this mitzvah is the pasuk (Vayikra 23:32), לחודש בתשעה נפשותיכם את ועניתם, "You shall fast on the ninth day of the month." The Gemara asks, "Do we fast on the ninth day? Behold, we fast on the tenth day!" The Gemara answers that the pasuk teaches us that if we eat on erev Yom Kippur, and fast on Yom Kippur, it will be considered as though we fasted on the ninth and the tenth day. This time, for the easy mitzvah of eating, we are rewarded as if we fasted.
The Beis Avraham cautioned that when one eats on erev Yom Kippur, he should imagine a lion is standing in front of him. In other words, this joyous meal should be eaten with a lot of yiras Shamayim.
The Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4) writes, "From Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, Bnei Yisrael increase tzedakah, good deeds, and mitzvos even more than the rest of the year. Everyone awakens early during these ten days to daven in the beis knesses until daybreak." These good deeds can tilt the scales and help us attain a good year.
5] Shem MiShmuel (Nitzavim 5673) writes, "An important lesson for a G-d fearing Yid is that during the yomim noraim, he shouldn't be cold. Instead, he should perform all of the mitzvos of this seventh month with a lot of hislahavus and emotion. If he does so, he will succeed in the judgment. Each Yid will receive a good judgment in accordance with his hislahavus."
