We area society of judgemental yentas!

Emotional

Tue, Jul 09 2013, 4:48 pm

When did it become okay to judge another person's life by your own personal yardstick?
As I step back and reflect on the various conversations I have had with people over the last few weeks & months, I'm realizing that a disturbing trend is all too common.

So-&-so got divorced? Well I always knew that shidduch was interesting.
Did you see how much weight Shprintzy gained? Nebach, it must be because she stays home with her kids. I work because staying home all day makes you eat.
Her kid is wild and out of control because she's too permissive with him. If she would learn to control her child...

Ladies, when did we become such experts on everyone's lives? Is every single one of us so perfect? Doesn't each of us have our weak points, our struggles, our insecurities? Our buttons that, to our shame, might actually be pushed by someone as all-knowing as ourselves?

During these days before Tisha B'Av, let us resolve to admit that we are all human, humans make mistakes, and we will love each other unconditionally, despite the idiosyncrasies we have "diagnosed"them with.

geshmak

Tue, Jul 09 2013, 5:47 pm

Perfect time to encourage everyone to learn the Sefer Chofetz Chaim.

The Baal Shem Tov taught that man decides his own punishment for his transgressions. “He is given the opportunity to view someone else doing exactly what he did, in a slightly camouflaged form, and in a fit of righteous indignation he passes sentence. Only then is the façade lifted, and he realizes that it is he who will receive the punishment. The fashion in which man judges his friend is in reality the way in which he is judged from Heaven.
It is for this reason that we are taught to judge everyone favorably. One should not be in a rush to interpret his friend’s actions with severity, for he may actually be passing judgment on himself. The reverse is also true; one who judges others favorably effects a favorable judgment for himself.” ~ The Pirkei Avos Treasury