T rue we’re told to judge every person favorably. But what about the teaching to “stay away from a bad neighbor”? Doesn’t he also deserve to be judged favorably — or is there a greater danger that demands our vigilance?
As summer comes to an end and with it the season of reviewing a chapter of Pirkei Avos every Shabbos afternoon let’s take another look at a mishnah we read last week whose idea can carry us through the winter chill as well.
“Nitai the Arbelite says stay away from a bad neighbor. And do not associate with a wicked person and do not abandon belief in retribution” (Avos 1:7).
In the previous mishnah Yehoshua ben Prachyah teaches us to “judge every person favorably.” Nitai of Arbel heard the teaching of his great colleague and felt that it needed clarification. If people would understand it in an oversimplified way thinking they should see nothing but good in others at all times their ability to distinguish between good and evil might become blurred. They might begin not only to judge their fellow man favorably but also to view evil itself in a more favorable light. “Well I can understand him ” they might say of someone who has clearly done wrong. And that could morph into “It’s not that bad after all. Let’s not be judgmental. We learn in Pirkei Avos that we have to judge everyone favorably. Where’s our ahavas Yisrael?”
