Modern Masters: Pirkei Avot - Dan L’Kaf Zechut | Rabbi Sam Shor | January 13th 2026

for coming in, coming to learn Torah, even as we hear the rain continue to get heavier outside Shak for being here to learn Torah together. >> Wow. Is right. At least here inside. It's warm, it's dry, and we're going to continue to warm up together as we explore together a beautiful topic together, a very important topic together. This is a as as many of you know this course is called modern masters where we engage in the study of many of the masters of Jewish thought and specifically the context of this year the backdrop of this year is we're going to touch on an idea that we've certainly discussed many many times before you know maybe not focus the entire year on but it's a recurring theme that comes up often in this course of modern masters because it's a recur a recurring theme what I'll call a yod a fundamental ofidic Jewish teachings and of Jewish thought and that's specifically the idea of seeking to see the good in one another the idea of being and of course we know this idea of being dut does everyone have the sourc because I have more here if anybody needs >> I have more here if anyone needs okay so of course this idea comes we're most familiar with from its source which is text number one on our sheets the famous said find for yourself a teacher make for yourself a teacher and acquire for yourself a friend and condition yourself what to judge every single individual favorably. Now, seeking a teacher or appointing a teacher, taking a teacher upon yourself, that's something that comes kind of natural naturally to all of us. Each one of us has in our lives teachers and individuals whose Torah resonates with us. There's wisdom and scholarship and and even their their their midot their character traits resonate with us and inspire us. So, it's easy. That's that's something that for many of us we come by easily. Same with most of us are blessed to have friends in our lives, people we can rely on that we can count on. But this last idea of uh conditioning ourselves to judge every person favorably. This adventure to guess is a is a struggle for every single human being. There's every single one of us inevitably have people in our lives where it might be difficult for us to see the good in them where our relationships with that individual sometimes are challenging. It's hard for us to see the good. So what exactly does this expression of conditioning yourself to see the good in every single person really mean? So let's take a look. There's a the Rambam and his parish. Everyone have the source sheet because I have here if you need okay those who just joined us. >> Yeah. Thank you. So the Ram and his parish his commentary in the Mishnayas this text number two he gives us a very very challenging quite frankly um interpretation of this idea of judging others favorably. Let's take a look. Let's just jump right in. And he says this idea is okay if you see a person okay and you are not familiar enough with this person to know if he's what a righteous person or a rash or a wicked person. So he says if the person we don't know, we don't know the person at all. We don't know if the person's true nature is what good or wicked and we see him do something that on one hand could be interpreted as what? Maybe something not so good. On the other hand could be interpreted as something very positive. Okay? or we hear him say something that if we interpret it one way could be interpreted as what? Saying something that's not a very positive thing to say or if we interpret it another way it's something that could be very very good. What's the in this circumstance? You have to take it interpret it for the good. Okay. This is the Okay. This is the parish. Okay. If whenever we see a person that's known to be a he's of he's publicly renowned for his righteousness and for his what good deeds and we see him do something that based on our human intellect and perspective it looks as if it's what something bad, right? And you couldn't inter a person is not able to interpret it as being something good unless what? You're really pushing it. Okay. If you're really pushing, you could maybe touch it in a way that maybe you could consider that it it wasn't so bad. But even that's a great stretch, says the Ra. And that's the case. And it's very very difficult to to think or very remote that that could be the possibility. It's appropriate what to take it to the place of good leoto. As long as there's some little possibility, minimal possibility that it could be interpreted as something good. If that person is known to be a generally good person then the is what you have to take it and interpret it as as being something good and it's not permissible what to cast doubt upon him. This says the is how we understand this idea of being. Now again just to review the first scenario is if we don't know if the person's good or bad and we see him doing something that could be interpreted in one way as being understood as being good or interpreted another way as being something bad then the hak is what if we don't know who the person's nature the hak is still we have to interpret it to the good and if we know in the second scenario the ram represents the person is known to be a great sadic and we see something like according to our initial So knee-jerk reaction is that it's clear that this is something bad. We have to take a step back. We can't jud rush to judge them. We have to try to see some possible way that that that action could be interpreted as being good because there's a person that's known to be a great great righteous individual. And as long as we can find some little aspect of good, some way, some possible avenue to interpret it as being good, the is what we have to judge him favorably. And it's not permissible for us to cast doubt upon him, to suspect him. Okay. So, it takes us a little bit further. Okay. and kind of really gives us the ra gives us twoic scenarios is going to tell us okay but what does that mean what is the what is the philos philosophical underpinning that's that's consistent in both of these they owe to the rama look at text number three okay this da know with certainty anytime use the expression da he means know with certainty a person needs to know that they have to judge every individual favorably. Even someone who's known to be what? A complete rash. A person has to search and look and seek to see some little bit of good because in that little bit of good that we can find, he's not really a rash. That means if there's a little bit of good that can be found even in a person that seemingly isn't such a good person, then that person is really not a Russia. If we look a high and low and we can't see anything good, anything redeeming about that person, then maybe you could write them off as a Russia. But the is first what? You need to look and you need to try and you need to condition yourself to see even in such a person that seems like a Russia to see some good. And if you're able in doing so, taking that step back, if you're able in such a circumstance to find that little bit of good and judge them favorably, what happens if we're able to even see within a person that seemingly seems very disconnected to Torah, okay? Very disconnected to mid to appropriate behaviors. And we're able to find some aspect of good within him and focus on the good and try to cultivate further that kernel of goodness. Then what do we have the capacity to do? Then we have the capacity what to bring them back and bring them closer. Now there's a very very beautiful Torah that I've shared over the years in in our sharim related to leised leis there's a the the second child of the the Hagada's four children is called the rasha right so in our response to the rasha the balaga tells us what do we have to do we have to hav which literally means literally translates means knock forth Right. Knock out his teeth. Push forth his teeth. Okay. The bells are who survived the show. The bells are says if you look at that word rash, it's comprised of three letters. Rein. If you pull out the shin, okay, which is the middle middle letter of the word rashel, not push forth his teeth, pull pull push forth his shin, the middle letter in his essence, he's a shin. And we're going to come back to what that shin is in a moment. Leaving on the outside, the outer letters, the word ra. Okay, the rash is only ra on the outside, says a bell zeri. On the inside, he's a sheen. What's a sheen? A sheen is comprised of three stems, says the beli, that corresponds to Abraham, yitak, and yakov. Hakav push forth, find a way to remind him that in his essence, in his essence, he's really a sheen. He's a descendant of the aos of Aramov. He's only raw on the outside. And this is the same idea that Rabbi Nakman is communicating here. We can see someone that from our vantage point is a Russia gamur. Okay, we have to take a step back, try to find one little aspect of good within that individual that seems at face value to be a Russia gamur. And if we're able to do that and we can focus on that and develop and cultivate our relationship with that individual based on seeing that little bit of goodness, then we have the capacity what to bring him to cha. Okay, we're now going to hear from another other a number of other masters of Jewish thought. If you turn your page over and develop this idea a little bit further. We're going to start with the slowbi the niv this where it says text number four the simarbi raishovski died in the year 2000. So we talk about modern masters. He's not he's almost a contemporary modern master, right? He was the rebi from the year 1981 to the year 2000. He succeeded his father-in-law the bas of as the rebi before that he had been the rashiva of the shiva shim and this is a beautiful teaching of the rebi specifically the parakat during the story of the mayar what's the story of the maya okay the waters of what the waters of miva when the Jewish people are complaining they water and what happens in the story. Hashem tells Mosher what? Take the take take your staff >> and speak and speak to the rock. Not not strike the rock with your staff. Hold on to your staff and speak to the rock. What ends up happening? Masheru >> hits the rock. Okay. So now listen to this. Listen to this. He's going to quote a medish related to what happened with Mosher and we know that as a result of this story what happens Mosher was not allowed to enter Arit Israel as a result of this story because Hashem because Hashem says to Moshe he and Aaron at that moment when they could have sanctified God's name by bringing the water forth from the rock by simply speaking to the rock and instead they hit struck the rock Hashem tells them since you failed to sanctify my name you will know you will not merit to enter is so the medish on this story that the son is going to begin with he says he's going to quote this message take a look what was the fault what was the mistake that Moshe made said listen to me rebellious ones Mosheu says to the Jewish people were complaining that they want water. He calls them rebellious. He says this is a fundamental flaw that he writes off the Jewish people and calls them rebellious and therefore he does not merit to lead the Jewish people into Israel. Since he no longer be believes in the sanctity of the Jewish people, since he writes off the Jewish people, Hashem says, Moshe, you're no long it's no longer appropriate for you to continue to lead them. He's already lost the capacity. What? To bring them back up to where they were before this moment and to lead them into Israeli. And this is the what the meaning of what Hashem says to Moshe, since you did not believe in me and sanctify me. Wow. He says, "What was Mosha's flaw and fault? That he didn't believe in the sanctity of the Jewish people and believe that what? That Hashem dwells amongst them. He writes off the holiness of the Jewish people. As the prophet tells us for me and I will dwell within them, I will dwell amongst within every single Jew. Hashem's presence is a name within every single Jew. That every Jew has an isma and therefore every Jew is what a part little part of divinity from above. innate within every single one of us is an which means that innate within every single one of us is a spark of divinity a piece of so to speak is innate within every single one of us and therefore if we don't believe in the sanctity of our fellow Jew and of then what are we saying on a certain level we don't fully believe in and this idea Okay, this kind this level of faith Moshe and Aaron gave up on and they didn't sanctify Hashem's name at that moment and that's why why and what does it mean that they didn't sanctify Hashem's name because they Moshe said because he said listen to me rebellious ones and therefore you could no longer leave lead this community. that he and already were no longer appropriate to lead the Jewish people and they need a new leadership that continue to believe in the lofty nature of every single member of Israel. And this idea is a fundamental for every single Jew and in all circumstances. Then the Jew because the Yates constantly tries to cut down the the to to to conquer every single Jew and cut down the spiritual wings they have to to achieve greatness. And that they should in what? Believe in the great powers that Hashem is endowed within every single one of us. The unique spiritual strength that exists withinate within every single one of us as we've learned learned in the name of the the great Sabah the first son of may his mer upon us. When the comes and tries to tempt the Jew, it's not solely what about encouraging them to do a specific uh misdeed, but rather what to break his spirit after he makes that mistake. Okay? To give up hope after he makes a mistake. I can't tell you how many times over my career I've heard people say to me, "Rabbi, I made so many mistakes in my life, I can't change. There's no hope for me. It's impossible for me to do chuva. It's impossible for me to change my circumstances." But this is absolute absolute heresy. Okay. What does the tried to accomplish? It's not just that we should make that misdeed and that mistake, but rather that after making that mistake that we will fall into despair and we will not believe that we have the capacity to overcome that mistake and return and chuva. The fundamental of Jewish belief is what? That a Jew has to believe that indeed there Hashem dwells amongst and within every single one of us. That there's kadusha inherent within every single one of us. That Hashem endows us with incredible spiritual powers. And therefore, even in the most difficult of circumstances, in the lowest circum of circumstances, in the worst of scenarios, a Jew always has the capacity wants to return to the chuva, to bounce back, [snorts] to overcome those challenges, and to get back on the right track. And if we don't believe in that even for a moment that's heresy. And since Mosha Aaron at that moment when they could have sanctified Hashem's name okay because Mosha Moshe loses patience and says what these people are rebellious okay he is frustrated with them at that great teachable moment. Okay. Mash loses his patience and therefore says what? Since you lost your faith in the Jewish people, you're no longer going to lead the Jewish people. It's not appropriate for you to lead the Jewish people if you don't believe what? In the greatness of every single member of Claw Israel. Okay, we're now going to move on to text number five. We're going to learn from the Alazar of Kajnets. The votes of Kashnitz came in aliyah to area in the late 1920s. He lived here until I think he died in in downtown Tel Aviv. Initially he's one of the threeidic rebies that were involved in founding aidic farming enclave in the north of Israel near Kifa known asim. Karassidim as a village continues to exist today. It is not aidic village. I don't think there are any that live there today. Maybe maybe there's a kabad there. But I don't think any traditional amongst the threeid groups that were involved in in in founding founding that the concept was that there were threeid rabbies that wanted to establish a uh a a yeshu whereas could come and be able to fulfill all the mitzvah be able to fulfill all the biblically mandated agricultural mitzvos. And unfortunately the the this this enterprise failed miserably. First of all they had a they had a a a a plague of of malaria that went through the community. And basically what ended up happening is that they learned very quickly that though they were well-intentioned these bakim and and were not meant to be farmers. And eventually they're bailed out by by the paliamerai by the religious Zionist um workers and they are able to to reestablish the community. They kept the name of when it still exists today. But the ends are up moving to Tel Aviv, downtown Tel Aviv. Um the his grandson continues to be the rebi of Kajitz in Tel Aviv. There is a kett in downtown Tel Aviv and the grandson splits his time between downtown Tel Aviv and the upper west side of Manhattan. I guess you could call him a cosmopolitan and the Salazar is actually the brother-in-law of a very illustrious personality we've learned from many times in this class. The pas the rebi the rebi of the ghetto. Okay. And the is actually those of us that have had the opportunity and we're going to do it again. Praise his God. Come El once again to take a tour of Kir Sadik me and the son Hedria cemetery which I led uh last year at El. We're going to do it again this year in El um because it's a min to visit your the our ancestors graves during before the and for many of us if our ancestors are buried in um we don't have the opportunity to visit our ancestors graves. So instead we visited sadikim before yim and one of the sadik that we'll visit once again in the in the sanria cemetery is the kajnit. Okay, having said that, let's just learn this short piece from the with this understanding this similar idea, okay, of seeing the good in every single Jew comes through that comes what the fulfillment of the mitzvah of loving your fellow Jew. Okay. My auleen as we learn from my great ancestor the cari ofen who taught. Wow. If you get nothing else out of this. This is a incredible teaching from the carina rebi. And Carlina Rebi said what I want I ask Hashem what to allow me to be on the madrega that I should love every that sadikim of Israel in the same way that what Hashem loves the rashim of Israel and the message being what that loves every single one of us unconditionally. I should be za I should be of the madrega says the carina rebi to be able to love even the sadikim of Israel and judge them in the same way that hashem judges even the Russia and therefore I'll mer truly merit to fulfill this idea of judging everyone favorably judges every Jew favorably hashem has unending love and compassion for every single Jew so too we should stri strive to do as well as we learn in the gamaros Davidi didn't dive in okay when he wrote the in the in the psalm okay that we say foresh he didn't dive in that what that the sitters should disappear from the earth but what that the sins should disappear from the earth okay And then we'll no longer have. If there are no sins in the world, then what? Then we won't have any wicked ones. Didn't den that the sinners and the wicked ones should be eliminated. But what? That the sins should be eliminated. And what do we learn from this? In the name of the mtov. Okay. May his mer be bestowed upon us. Okay. A truly righteous person who has no who has no wickedness in him at all. Anal truly righteous person what can't see anything bad in another person. Okay. A truly righteous person has the capacity to do as Rabbi teaches us and that is what? To seek to see only the good. The said, "A truly righteous person is one who can look beyond what's in front of our own eyes and condition ourselves to see beyond what we see immediately with our eyes and to see deeply spiritually to see the good and only see the good. If we could do that then we truly fulfill this mandate of being down." Rabbi Barak Simon in text number six. Rabbi Barak Simon is one of the great young Roshi Yeshiva in Yeshiva University today. He's a man couple years older than me. He's in his late 50s and Rabbarak Simon and his beautiful Marak is going to share with us a beautiful teaching from the Remy of Oz. Okay. The Mosha of Ozra. This is text six. Okay. The brings regarding this idea of being the following. He quotes the holy work from the rebiotaenu. In the name of his many teachers who are the students of the bashtov may their merits be bestowed upon us. Who will mashiach be? What will be the quality that will define msiahu? The capacity to what? To me on the entire world to judge the entire world favorably. Okay. And he quotes a word where he learns it from and he says, "Okay, the greater the sadic, the greater the capacity to what? to see the good even in the people who are in the lowest space spiritually and to recognize that it's Hashem's desire to what? To judge favorably his creations in accordance to the words of Hashem desires to judge us favorably. Okay. Let's think bottom wants to be give judge meritoriously his creations and he doesn't desire what to cause us to face judgment to be you know to be to be responsible for our transgressions. Hashem wants to wants seeks to see the good within every single one of us. Okay. So I want to bring one last Torah to bring this all together from another very important modern master. Tax number seven sheets is a short teaching from Rabbi Yusakel. I mean Schlomel was someone who perished in the shawah. He had been a Rav in he had been a dion in numerous casidic courts in including monks and bells in Europe. He had been a rev of of a community in what was then Czechoslovakia. And for much of his for much of his rabbitic career, here come the reigns again. For much of his rabbitic career, he had been a staunch anti-ionist like many of the rabbitic leadership in Europe before the Shabbah. And then at a certain point when he saw the rise of Nazism, Rafel realized that what that he and many of his contemporaries were very wrong or mistaken and writes a beautiful beautiful safer called which is about the eternal connection between Ami is and the mitzvah and the mandate to build up the Yeshu and Israel and how that vision of building up the Yeshu is indeed a fulfillment of of a mitzvah and the salvation in the Jewish people. So the first two proim we'll take questions at the end. The first two pro him of this beautiful safe affair um are really his apology in which he says over and over again how wrong he was and how wrong many of the contemporaries were in judging and speaking speaking ill of those the Zionists who maybe didn't look like them but they were securing the future of the Jewish people and in the second introduction the second chapter of the introduction where he where this where he is continuously apolog ologizing we find this beautiful teaching the rakeel citel when he wrote this safer he wrote this incredible safer without access to his library okay anything that he quotes any source that he quotes he's quoting by by photographic memory okay this is a safe it's like 600 pages long which is full of quotes from tanak from from khazal from other other contemporary teachers masters and everything he's quoting He's quoting without access to his library. As a matter of fact, we have I had the good to meet his his great-grandson. It's a story for another time how I met him. Those that want to smoo after the class, we can I can tell you the story, but he gifted me with a little with a with a autobiograph a biography autobiography about Raf Tektel that was written by this young man's grandmother, Raf Tektel's daughter. Okay. And in this safer we have some of the handwritten diary quotes from Rafael himself as well as his daughter giving us the context of when Raf Tekktel wrote this. And one of the diary entries is him describing how he had to steal up the shul in his community where he was the Rav and how he put had to put away all his personal sarim as well as all his personal writings and hide them in the Genea in the attic of the shaws. They fled the Nazis and left the community. And so when he writes this, which is afterwards, after he begins to flee, he's writing this without access to that library that he's put away in the Genea. Okay. So this is what says this is what I wanted to share with you, which is going to bring this all together very powerfully. And I saw in the Abushto the holy one the rebi of Zidich bless me rimanovy letter who brought in the name of his rebi of rimanov may his mer be beset upon us shamar and what is it that remandela of riman of the riman of t taught us that even the second child in we spoke talk about this in the beginning, right? Who's the second child in the Hagada? The Russia that even a second child in the Hagada in the Hagada will have a tikun, okay, in the gula. When Msiah comes, even the proverbial Russia, the second child of the Hagada will be part of that mass chuva process and merit to be redeemed by Mashiau. Now listen to how Rafel explains this beautiful teaching from from the ramenov the holy one that we quoted above me out of his great lovely Israel for the Jewish people okay he couldn't bring himself to what refer even to a proverbial child. Okay. A proverbial member of the Jewish people like the Hagada's second child by the term Rasha. He only called him what? The Beni, which means either the second child or the child that's a little different than the rest of us, right? Shinoi also means what? Different. So a beni can mean either the second child or the child that's a little different. He's not exactly like us. He out of his great love for the Jewish people. Okay, the Rebi of Remanov could not even refer to the proverbial Russia of the Hagada by the using the word Russia. He only called them that child. Now listen to what does this teaching from the room come and see how great a person's love for his fellow Jew has to be okay and this was a a a practical lesson for us. What a mood is for us. Okay. Who often measured and judged other people and threw around the term Russia to describe others who weren't exactly like us to describe our fellow Jew who weren't exactly like us. says that even the proverbial complete Russia like that proverbial second the holy one. Okay. The Rebi of Rimmanov could not bring himself to use that term Russia even in a proverbial way to describe what potentially describe any member of Cla. What a muscuel says Rafel. We learn from the Rebov. What an important message we learn from where he is doing this in this second introduction to this beautiful when he's saying how wrong I was and how wrong so many of my colleagues were because we were quick to judge others and throw around the term Rasha. What do we learn from the Rabbi of Remanov? We never write off another Jew. We never use the term Rashe describing another Jew. As we learned from Rebi Nakman and from the Bel Rebi, every single from the Rambam and from every all the sources we learned together this morning, every single Jew is holy. Even those who may not yet know it or realize it themselves as the great Rabbar Meab always taught that even the Jew doesn't know what it means to be a Jew. If only every single Jew would realize the gift it is to be a Jew, the gift that we've been given, the divine powers, spiritual powers that Hashem is endowed within every single one of us and condition ourselves to look ourselves in the mirror and appreciate not only who we are as an individual, but to see and condition ourselves to see the good in one another. My friends, as we uh part ways for this week till next week, this is an eternal timeless message that comes up time and time again in so many the modern masses that we learn together and uh it's something that we have to constantly be aware of and every single one of us work to overcome to have the capacity to be donut. Have a great day.