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Why The Torah Commands Us To Judge Favorably

Why The Torah Commands Us To Judge Favorably

Keep your eyes on the cross, and see what happens to the images as you continue to stare at it. Peripheral vision is whacked, no? That’s the name of the GIF below which began circulating around the internet a few months ago. When I first saw it I thought it was cool, but then I realized that there’s a deeper lesson contained within it about the limitations of human sight.

Peripheral vision is whacked.

We think we know what’s going on in the world around us. We see other people do things that we don’t agree with or approve of and so often our first instinct is to judge them. But our sages teach, “Do not judge your fellow until you have stood in his place” (Pirket Avos). I thought I understood the meaning of this and it was simple: until you’ve experienced what someone else has experienced you have no right to judge him. And while I believe that this still holds true, “Peripheral vision is whacked” taught me another way to understand this piece of Torah.

If we’re standing on the periphery of another person (which is where we stand in regards to ALL people who are not us) our perspective will always be distorted. We will lack information, see things in a skewed way, not get the whole picture, and wrongly come to judgement. God is the only True Judge out there because only God can see the whole picture.

The fact that this GIF is made up of celebrities is very apropos as the public is so quick to judge these famous people even though, in reality, we have so little information about them. But even our closest friends and family members still stand in a different place than we do. So the next time you start to look down at another human being, stop yourself and remember: peripheral vision is whacked!

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Allison Josephs

Allison Josephs is the founder and executive director of Jew in the City has been involved in the field of Jewish Outreach for over twenty years and is the Partner in Torah mentor to actress Mayim Bialik. She was named one of NJOP’s Top Ten Jewish Influencers and one of the Jewish Week’s 36 under 36. Allison has been quoted or written about in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, People Magazine, NYPost, Daily News, TMZ, The Daily Beast, and Hollywood Reporter. She has appeared on numerous television and radio networks including CBS, ABC, Fox5, TLC, Associate Press TV, and NPR; her articles have appeared in publications including The Washington Post, JTA, Jewish Week, Jerusalem Post, The Forward, and Kveller. Pearson Education, the largest textbook company in the world, produced a video segment on Allison’s life for the Judaism chapter of their textbook. She is a sought-after international lecturer whose corporate clients include Con-Edison and NYU Langone and hosts a weekly podcast on the Nachum Segal Network. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in Philosophy and lives with her husband and four children minutes from the George Washington Bridge.