הודיה והכרת הטוב החלוץ - קומונת ניר - עוז #13

(1) Know, that it is necessary to judge every person as meritorious. Even if someone is entirely wicked, it is necessary to search and find in him some bit of good, that in that bit he is not wicked, and by means of this, that you find in him a bit of good, and judge him as meritorious, by means of this you raise him in truth to the side of merit, and you can return him in repentance. This is "a little bit and there is no wicked, you will contemplate on his place and he isn't there" (Psalms 37:10), that is, the verse warns to judge everyone as meritorious, and even though you see the he is completely wicked, even so, you must search and quest to find in him a bit of good where he isn't wicked. This is "a little bit and there is no wicked" - you have to search out in him a bit of good that is still there, where he is not wicked, because even though he is wicked, how is it possible that there isn't still a bit of good, because how is possible that he didn't do a mitzvah or a good thing his whole life? By means of this that you find in him a bit of good where he is not wicked, and you judge him as meritorious, by means of this you raise him in truth from the side of liability to the side of merit, until he returns in repentance by means of his. This is "a little bit and there is no wicked", by means of finding in the wicked a bit of good, where he isn't wicked "you will contemplate on his place and he isn't there", meaning when you contemplate and look at his place and level, he isn't there, in his original place, because by means of finding in him a bit of good, a good point, and judging him as meritorious, by means of this you truly take him from the side of liability to the side of merit. This is "you will contemplate on his place and he isn't there". Understand this well. [...]

(2) Just so, one must find [a modicum of good] in himself as well. For it is well-known that one must take great care to be in a state of happiness at all times and to keep sadness very very distant (as we have explained several times). Even when one begins to scrutinize himself and sees that there is no goodness in him, and that he is full of sins, and the Plaintiff (lit. ba'al davar, one who has a claim; fig. the Evil One) desires to cause his downfall through sadness and depression (lit. black bile, melancholy), Heaven forfend, nevertheless it is forbidden for him to fall on this account. He must just seek to find in himself some modicum of good, for how is it possible that he did not perform in all his days some mitzvah or good deed? And even [if], when one begins to scrutinize that good deed, he sees that it is full of flaws and has no soundness, that is to say that one sees that even that mitzvah or holy deed that he merited to perform, it too is full of turnings and inappropriate intentions and many imperfections, nevertheless, how is it possible that there should not be in that mitzvah or holy deed some modicum of good? For, no matter how things are, there must have been some good point in the mitzvah or the good dead that he performed. For one must search out and seek to find in himself some modicum of good, in order to revive himself, and to attain joy, as mentioned above. By seeking to find in himself that there is still a modicum of good, he truly leaves the scale of guilt for the scale of merit, so that he is able to turn back in repentance. This is connected conceptually to the verse, "A little longer and there will be no wicked man; you will look at where he was— he will be gone," as mentioned above... Similarly, one must seek further, to find in himself another good deed. Even if that good deed likewise is mixed with much waste (פסולת), he will be able to extract from there likewise some good point. And thus one should seek to collect further good points (or "notes"/נקודות). In this way melodies are made, as explained in another place (Likutei Moharan 54), which is the concept of playing a musical instrument, which is related to collecting good breath (spirit, רוח) from the spirit of gloom and sadness, see there.... When one does not allow himself to fall, and revives himself by searching, seeking, and finding in himself some good points, and gathers and clarifies these good points from the bad and the waste that is in him, as stated above--in this way melodies are formed, and then he is able to pray, to sing, and to give thanks to God. For it is well-known that when one despairs on account of his physicality and evil deeds, seeing that he is really very, very far from holiness, then in most cases he is unable to pray at all, and is unable to open his mouth at all, due to the greatness of his sadness and melancholy and the heaviness that befalls him, since he sees the great force of his alienation (distancing, ריחוקו) from Hashem, may He be blessed...

(3) This is connected conceptually with the verse, "I will sing songs to my God while I exist (=בעודי, through my עוד/still)" (Psalms 146:2)--precisely through my "still" (עוד), that is, by means of the concept of my עוד/still, that I find in myself--related to "A little longer (עוד, 'still') and there will be no wicked man; you will look at where he was— he will be gone" (Psalms 37:10), as mentioned above. By means of this point/note (נקודה) [that is, the עוד/the modicum of goodness that persists], I will be able to sing and to give thanks to Hashem, as mentioned above. Thus, "I will sing"--it is precisely that I will sing, that is, songs and melodies that are made by means of collecting the good notes, as mentioned above.

(6) Yehoshua ben Perachiah and Nitai of Arbel received from them. Yehoshua ben Perachia says, "Make for yourself a mentor, acquire for yourself a friend and judge every person as meritorious."

(1) The commandment to honor father and mother: To honor father and mother, as it is stated (Exodus 20:12), "You shall honor your father and your mother." And the explanation (Kiddushin 31b) comes to [define it], "What does it mean to 'honor'? To feed, give drink, dress, bring in, and take out."

(2) From the roots of this commandment is that it is fitting for a person to acknowledge and return kindness to people who were good to him, and not to be an ungrateful scoundrel, because that is a bad and repulsive attribute before God and people. And he should take to heart that the father and the mother are the cause of his being in the world; and hence it is truly fitting to honor them in every way and give every benefit he can to them, because they brought him to the world, and worked hard for him when he was little. And once he fixes this idea in his soul, he will move up from it to recognize the good of God, Blessed be He, who is his cause and the cause of all his ancestors until the first man (Adam), and that he took him out into the world's air, and fulfilled his needs every day, and made his body strong and able to stand, and gave him a mind that knows and learns - for without the mind that God granted him, he would be 'like a horse or a mule who does not understand.' And he should think at length about how very fitting it is to be careful in his worship of the Blessed be He.

(3) The laws of this commandment - for example, whose property should be spent on this honor, the child's or the parent's, and the ruling (Kiddushin 32a) is that it is out of the parent's if the parent has assets, but if not, the child must even beg door to door (see Talmud Yerushalmi Kiddushin 1:7) in order to feed their parent; which takes priority, honoring the father or the mother; if [the parent] waives that honor [if it is effective]; if the child sees the parent violating the Torah's words, with what words should they stop them; if his father commands him to violate the Torah's words, that he should not believe him about it; that the child is obligated to honor [the parent] in life and in death, and how is the honor in death; and the rest of its details - are [all] elucidated in Tractate Kiddushin and in a few other places in the Gemara (See Tur, Yoreh Deah 260).

(4) And [it] is practiced in every place and at all times by males; and by females (Kiddushin 31a) any time it is possible for them - meaning to say when their husbands do not prevent them. And one who transgressed it violated a positive commandment, and his punishment is very great; for they are like one who ignores their Heavenly Father. And if the court has the power, they coerce him; as we wrote above (in Sefer HaChinukh 6) that the court coerces with regards to the negation of a positive commandment.