In short, we must treat others as we want to be treated, and we must judge ourselves as we judge others!

Judaism demands two opposing trends, a personal and a communal, which must by definition contradict each other; for the personal must be one in which we are, though not hard on ourselves, neither are we soft; from time to time – preferably nightly – we must make an accounting of our thoughts speech and actions; we MUST have complete self-discipline; we must learn to trust God and be fearless; to forgive and forget; to trust that everything in our lives is God’s blessing; but though this is our personal attitude, nonetheless, the exact opposite is demanded in our communal relationships: for we must only be soft, never judge anyone until we are in their shoes, we must go out of our way to help them, including, as Abraham did, complain to God for being so harsh and to our eyes, cruel; we must pray incessantly for another, as the Rebbe did, spending literally years praying for people at the ohel (graveside of his father-in-law where he would take the thousands of petitions for his prayers, to;) we must have compassion and no anger, we must believe that they deserve only the very best and if anything goes wrong, we must only feel sorry and perhaps a bit angry at God for his behavior – as the Baal Shem Tov teaches “trust in God for yourself, is kindness; for others, evil” – in short, we must treat others as we want to be treated, and we must judge ourselves as we judge others!

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