You can say something good about my wife?

Leo kazin

"One day a young man came to me, took out a sheet of paper and read out a long list of complaints about his wife," - writes Rabbi Azriel Tauber in the book «Thoughts for a Jewish Home».

- You can say something good about my wife? - asked Rabbi Tauber.

- I can not.

- She's innocent! After all, if all the judges of the Sanhedrin decided that the accused is guilty, he is presumed innocent!

Solving the issues of life and death, he endured Sanhedrin sentences by majority vote. But what if the 71 judges of the Sanhedrin 35 believed the defendant not guilty, and 36 - guilty? He was considered innocent! In this show mercy: charges advantage of one vote was not considered by the majority. But what if all the judge declared him guilty? He was considered innocent! Judges were required to discuss all the arguments and only the next day to make a decision. However, if no one spoke in defense of the defendant, the court could not render a guilty verdict. In this case, not discussed, but because everyone has the right to the arguments in its defense were taken into account ...

The fact that the young man did not see anything good in his wife, testified not about her, and about him, about his blindness, because everyone has some positive qualities. And if love blinds, turning a blind eye to the shortcomings of the beloved, then hatred can not see all the advantages of ...

Curious parallels what has been said, we find in the comments of Rabbi Jacob Emden (1698-1776) to the Siddur: "The meaning of the holiday of Lag B'Omer is in the law, when all the judges find the defendant guilty - he is innocent!"

On the eve of the expulsion of the Jews by the Romans, Rabbi Akiva trained 24,000 students to the great mission of transmitting to future generations the spirit of the Jewish tradition, the oral Torah, the Talmud. However, after the Passover the disciples of Rabbi Akiva began to die. In their memory, we keep mourning, which was suspended on Lag BaOmer - the 33rd day after Passover, because on this day "stopped dying disciples of Rabbi Akiva" (Talmud, Yevamos, 62).

Why do the disciples of Rabbi Akiva died? Because "do not show respect to each other," says the Talmud, pointing to the spiritual cause of their death, because they are not worthy to convey the Torah to future generations.

The higher a person is, the harder it is to test. Thin test the students of Rabbi Akiva was the fact that all of them were wise, and each of them was not easy to find a wiser and therefore more worthy of respect a man than he is.

In a letter to his son Ramban taught it to the dignity and respect of each person: "If he is wise, to render him the respect, if you're wise, I believe that he is righteous, because when he sins, he does so out of ignorance!"

The disciples of Rabbi Akiva did not show respect to each other? But Rabbi Akiva taught them that the foundation of the Torah is to love one's neighbor!

"It is because the demand from students of Rabbi Akiva was so great!" - she said in their lessons Rabbi Meir Khodosh, the spiritual head of the yeshiva "Atzeret Israel" in Jerusalem. In order to respect the person you need to see in him the dignity, and to do that you need to love him. And if hatred does not allow to see the advantages, that opens the eyes of love!

See the advantages - it is a great art, the secret is in the love of the people! But the one who does not see the advantages, like the judges of the Sanhedrin, has no right to judge ...

Deep symbolism, we also see that if all judges believed the defendant guilty, all turning in his favor. This idea is also manifested in the history of Lag B'Omer. Despite the fact that the students of Rabbi Akiva died, he did not despair, and found five new students, which gave us all the knowledge of the Torah! In this great lesson: never despair! Even falling to the bottom, one must keep in mind that will go up! And who came to Rabbi Tauber young man should not lose hope, remembering that he can start all over again, and open your eyes to see the dignity of his wife.

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