Judging favorably (‘Dan LeKaf Zechut’): Three Talmudic Anecdotes (Shabbat 127b)

A baraita states a general rule: one who judges another favorably¹ is himself judged favorably. The principle is then illustrated through narrative cases.

Each narrative follows the same 4-part sequence:

1. Potentially suspicious behavior by the protagonist (a respected elite figure; a landowner or rabbi)

2. The protagonist asks the others (his laborer or his students): “what did you suspect me of?” (במה חשדתוני); they respond with charitable interpretations

3. Factual confirmation by protagonist

4. A concluding blessing by the protagonist that mirrors the opening maxim²

The stories thus function as controlled test cases that operationalize the abstract rule stated at the outset.

Outline

Intro

The Passage - Judging favorably (‘Dan LeKaf Zechut’): Three Talmudic Anecdotes (Shabbat 127b)

“One who judges another favorably -- is himself judged favorably”

Story #1 - Hired Worker and Employer

1. Intro

2. Potentially Suspicious Act - The hired worker is repeatedly denied payment in money or goods on the eve of Yom Kippur: Employer claims to have no money, produce, land, animals, or bedding - 5 steps

3. The worker interprets each refusal in a legally and morally charitable way: Funds tied up in business; animals hired out; land leased; produce untithed; property consecrated - 5 steps

4. Employer confirms all explanations; property was vowed due to son’s conduct

Story #2 - Pious Man and Captive Woman

1. Intro - A pious man redeems a captive Jewish woman

2. Potentially Suspicious Act - The pious man places her beneath his feet at an inn, then immerses the next day

3. His students assume non-sexual explanations - 2 steps: protection from another student and involuntary seminal emission due to travel

4. The pious man confirms both assumptions

Story #3 - R’ Yehoshua and Roman Matron

1. Intro - Rabbis Needed Something From an Important Roman Matron

2. Potentially Suspicious Act - When R’ Yehoshua meets privately with the Roman matron, he removes tefillin beforehand, locks the door, and later immerses

3. His students interpret each act favorably: avoidance of impurity, confidential political discussion, and ritual impurity from spittle - 3 steps

4. R’ Yehoshua confirms all three explanations

The Passage

Shabbat.127b.2-13

“One who judges another favorably -- is himself judged favorably”

תנו רבנן:

הדן חבירו לכף זכות —

דנין אותו לזכות.

A baraita states:

One who judges another favorably --

is himself judged favorably.

Story #1 - Hired Worker and Employer

Intro

ומעשה באדם אחד שירד מגליל העליון

ונשכר אצל בעל הבית אחד בדרום שלש שנים.

And there was an incident involving a certain person who descended from the Upper Galilee

and was hired to work for a certain homeowner in the South³ for three years.

Potentially Suspicious Act - The hired worker is repeatedly denied payment in money or goods on the eve of Yom Kippur: Employer claims to have no money, produce, land, animals, or bedding - 5 steps

ערב יום הכפורים

1. אמר לו: תן לי שכרי, ואלך ואזון את אשתי ובני.

   1. אמר לו: אין לי מעות.

2. אמר לו: תן לי פירות.

   1. אמר לו: אין לי.

3. תן לי קרקע —

   1. אין לי.

4. תן לי בהמה —

   1. אין לי.

5. תן לי כרים וכסתות —

   1. אין לי.

הפשיל כליו לאחוריו,

והלך לביתו בפחי נפש.

On erev Yom Kippur,

1. he said to the homeowner: Give me my wages, and I will go and feed my wife and children.

   1. The homeowner said to him: I have no money.

2. He said to him: In that case, give me my wages in the form of produce (פירות).

   1. He said to him: I have none.

3. The worker said to him: Give me my wages in the form of land (קרקע).

   1. The homeowner said to him: I have none.

4. The worker said to him: Give me my wages in the form of animals.

   1. He said to him: I have none.

5. The worker said to him: Give me cushions and blankets⁴

   1. He said to him: I have none.

The worker slung⁵ his tools over his shoulder behind him

and went to his home in anguish⁶

לאחר הרגל נטל בעל הבית שכרו בידו,

ועמו משוי שלשה חמורים:

1. אחד של מאכל,

2. ואחד של משתה,

3. ואחד של מיני מגדים,

והלך לו לביתו.

אחר שאכלו ושתו --

נתן לו שכרו.

After the pilgrimage festival (רגל) of Sukkot, the homeowner took the worker’s wages in his hand,

along with a burden that required three donkeys:

1. one laden with food,

2. one laden with drink,

3. and one laden with types of sweets (מגדים),

and went to the worker’s home.

After they ate and drank --

the homeowner gave him his wages.

The worker interprets each refusal in a legally and morally charitable way: Funds tied up in business; animals hired out; land leased; produce untithed; property consecrated - 5 steps

1. אמר לו: בשעה שאמרת לי ״תן לי שכרי״, ואמרתי ״אין לי מעות״, במה חשדתני?

   1. אמרתי: שמא פרקמטיא בזול נזדמנה לך, ולקחת בהן.

2. ובשעה שאמרת לי ״תן לי בהמה״, ואמרתי ״אין לי בהמה״, במה חשדתני?

   1. אמרתי: שמא מושכרת ביד אחרים.

3. בשעה שאמרת לי ״תן לי קרקע״, ואמרתי לך ״אין לי קרקע״, במה חשדתני?

   1. אמרתי: שמא מוחכרת ביד אחרים היא.

4. ובשעה שאמרתי לך ״אין לי פירות״, במה חשדתני?

   1. אמרתי: שמא אינן מעושרות.

5. ובשעה שאמרתי לך ״אין לי כרים וכסתות״, במה חשדתני?

   1. אמרתי: שמא הקדיש כל נכסיו לשמים.

1. The homeowner said to him: When you said to me: “Give me my wages”, and I said: “I have no money”, of what did you suspect me (חשדתני)? Why did you not suspect me of trying to avoid paying you?

   1. The worker answered, I said: Perhaps the opportunity to purchase merchandise⁷ inexpensively presented itself, and you purchased it with the money that you owed me, and therefore you had no money available.

2. The homeowner asked: And when you said to me: “Give me animals”, and I said: “I have no animals”, of what did you suspect me?

   1. The worker answered: I said: Perhaps the animals are hired (מושכרת) to others.

3. The homeowner asked: When you said to me: “Give me land”, and I said: “I have no land”, of what did you suspect me?

   1. The worker answered: I said: Perhaps the land is leased (מוחכרת) to others, and you cannot take the land from the lessees.

4. The homeowner asked: And when you said to me: “Give me produce”, and I said: “I have no produce”, of what did you suspect me?

   1. The worker answered: I said: Perhaps they are not tithed, and that was why you could not give them to me.

5. The homeowner asked: And when I said: “I have no cushions or blankets”, of what did you suspect me?

   1. The worker answered: I said: Perhaps he consecrated all his property to Heaven⁸ and therefore has nothing available at present.

Employer confirms all explanations; property was vowed due to son’s conduct

אמר לו:

העבודה!

כך היה.

הדרתי כל נכסי בשביל הורקנוס בני שלא עסק בתורה.

וכשבאתי אצל חבירי בדרום

התירו לי כל נדרי.

ואתה,

• כשם שדנתני לזכות,

• המקום ידין אותך לזכות.

The homeowner said to him:

I swear by the Temple service

that it was so.

I had no money available at the time because I vowed and consecrated all my property on account of Hyrcanus, my son, who did not engage in Torah study. The homeowner sought to avoid leaving an inheritance for his son.

And when I came to my colleagues in the South,

the Sages of that generation, they dissolved all my vows.

At that point, the homeowner had immediately gone to pay his worker.

Now the homeowner said: And you,

• just as you judged favorably,

• so may God judge you favorably.

Story #2 - Pious Man and Captive Woman

Intro - A pious man redeems a captive Jewish woman

תנו רבנן:

מעשה בחסיד אחד

שפדה ריבה אחת בת ישראל,

On a similar note, the Talmud relates that A baraita states:

There was an incident involving a certain pious man (hasid)

who redeemed a young Jewish woman (ריבה) from captivity.

Potentially Suspicious Act - The pious man places her beneath his feet at an inn, then immerses the next day

ולמלון —

השכיבה תחת מרגלותיו.

למחר

ירד

וטבל

ושנה לתלמידיו.

When they arrived at the inn (מלון) —

he had her lie beneath his feet (מרגלותיו).

The next day,

he descended,

and immersed⁹

and taught his students.

His students assume non-sexual explanations - 2 steps: protection from another student and involuntary seminal emission due to travel

ואמר להן:

בשעה שהשכבתיה תחת מרגלותי,

במה חשדתוני?

אמרנו:

שמא יש בנו תלמיד שאינו בדוק לרבי.

And the pious man said to his students:

When I had her lie beneath my feet,

of what did you suspect me?

They said to him: We said:

Perhaps there is a student among us whose conduct is not established before the rabbi,

and he wanted to make certain that this student would not inappropriately accost the young woman. Therefore, the rabbi kept the woman close by.

בשעה שירדתי וטבלתי,

במה חשדתוני?

אמרנו:

שמא מפני טורח הדרך --

אירע קרי לרבי.

He said to them: When I descended and immersed,

of what did you suspect me?

They answered: Perhaps due to the exertion of travel --

a seminal emission (קרי) befell the rabbi.

The pious man confirms both assumptions

אמר להם:

העבודה!

כך היה.

ואתם,

• כשם שדנתוני לכף זכות,

• המקום ידין אתכם לכף זכות.

He said to them:

I swear by the Temple service

that it was so.

And you,

• just as you judged me favorably,

• so may God judge you favorably.

Story #3 - R’ Yehoshua and Roman Matron

Intro - Rabbis Needed Something From an Important Roman Matron

תנו רבנן:

פעם אחת הוצרך דבר אחד לתלמידי חכמים אצל מטרוניתא אחת שכל גדולי רומי מצויין אצלה.

אמרו: מי ילך?

אמר להם רבי יהושע: אני אלך.

A baraita states:

Once there was a certain matter needed by Torah scholars. They wanted to discuss an issue with a certain matron¹⁰ whose company was kept by all the prominent¹¹ people of Rome.

The Torah scholars wanted to address the government on behalf of the Jewish people, and they sought the matron’s advice.

They said: Who will go?

R’ Yehoshua said to them: I shall go.¹²

Potentially Suspicious Act - When R’ Yehoshua meets privately with the Roman matron, he removes tefillin beforehand, locks the door, and later immerses

הלך רבי יהושע ותלמידיו.

כיון שהגיע לפתח ביתה,

חלץ תפיליו ברחוק ארבע אמות,

ונכנס

ונעל הדלת בפניהן.

R’ Yehoshua and his students went to her.

When he arrived with his students at the entrance of her house,

he removed his tefillin at a distance of four cubits from the door,

and entered,

and locked the door before them.

His students interpret each act favorably: avoidance of impurity, confidential political discussion, and ritual impurity from spittle - 3 steps

אחר שיצא,

ירד וטבל ושנה לתלמידיו.

After he emerged,

he descended and immersed in a mikveh, and taught his students.

Here too, this was conduct that could arouse suspicion that something improper transpired.

1. ואמר להן: בשעה שחלצתי תפילין, במה חשדתוני?

   1. אמרנו: כסבור רבי, לא יכנסו דברי קדושה במקום טומאה.

2. בשעה שנעלתי, במה חשדתוני?

   1. אמרנו: שמא דבר מלכות יש בינו לבינה.

3. בשעה שירדתי וטבלתי, במה חשדתוני?

   1. אמרנו: שמא ניתזה צינורא מפיה על בגדיו של רבי.

1. And he said to his students: When I removed the tefillin, of what did you suspect me?

   1. They said to him, we said: The rabbi must hold that sacred items may not enter a place of impurity.

   2. Therefore, it would have been inappropriate to enter the house with tefillin.

2. He asked: When I locked the door, of what did you suspect me?

   1. They said to him: We said: Perhaps there is a discreet royal matter that must be discussed between him and her and should not be revealed.

3. R’ Yehoshua asked: When I descended and immersed, of what did you suspect me?

   1. They said to him, we said: Perhaps a bit of spittle sprayed¹³ from her mouth onto the rabbi’s clothes.

R’ Yehoshua confirms all three explanations

אמר להם:

העבודה!

כך היה.

ואתם,

• כשם שדנתוני לזכות,

• המקום ידין אתכם לזכות.

R’ Yehoshua said to them:

I swear by the Temple service that

it was so.

And you,

• just as you judged favorably,

• so may God judge you favorably.

1. דן לכף זכות.

דָּן לְכַף זְכוּת literally means “to judge to the pan of merit.”

• דן – “judges”

• לְכַף – “to the pan / scale-plate” (of a balance)

• זְכוּת – “merit” or “innocence”

The image is of a balance scale: when evaluating someone’s actions, you place them on the side of merit rather than guilt—i.e., interpret ambiguous behavior favorably.

This maxim appears first in the Mishnah, see my “Pt1 Tripartite Aphorisms: From The Men of the Great Assembly to Rabban Gamaliel’s Dynasty (Mishnah Avot 1:1-2:4)“, section “Yehoshua ben Perahiah - Make a teacher for yourself; acquire a friend; judge others favorably (1:6)“, list item #3:

והוי דן את כל האדם לכף זכות

and judge all men (כל האדם) with the scale weighted in his favor (לכף זכות)

2. The recurring confirmatory statement is:

I swear by the Temple service (העבודה)

that it was so

And you,

• just as you judged me favorably,

• so may God (המקום) judge you favorably.

3. דרום.

Referring to the area that’s today considered central Israel, compare Wikipedia, “Daroma“:

4. כרים וכסתות.

This binomial pair (“cushions and blankets”) is a common fixed collocation in the Talmud; see the 30+ results in the search here.

Meaning, the worker in his final request asked to at least receive bedding—i.e., a core household good—distinct from the previously listed categories of cash, land, produce, and livestock. Compare the following section.

5. הפשיל.

On this idiom, see Jastrow (modernized):

פָּשַׁל

(compare פָּתַל) to twist, knot […]

Esp. ה׳ לאחוריו to twist or knot a bundle and throw it over one’s shoulder.

• Sukkah 27b:11 - טליתו וכ׳ … הפשיל - “Rabbi Eliezer tied up his cloak and threw it over his back and went off”

• Tosefta Sukkah 1:9 - … רגליו וכ׳ הפשיל (read בגדיו, see infra) - “Rabbi Eliezer bundled up his garments etc.,” i.e. went off in an ostentatious manner).

• Tosefta Chullin 8:4 - [read:] נותנן … ומַפְשִׁילָן לאחוריו - “he may wrap them up with the peddler’s bundle and strike, and cast them over his shoulder”

• Menachot 85b:16 - הפשיל כליו לאחוריו - “he tied up his implements and threw them etc.”

• Mishnah Kilayim 9:5 Yerushalmi ed. הצנועים מַפְשִׁילִין לאחוריהן במקל - “the scrupulous carry (the garments of mixed material, כלאים) in bundles over their shoulders”

• Yerushalmi ibid. 9, beginning: 31d (referring to לא יעלה, Leviticus 19:19) - “I might have thought, לא יפשיל את הקופה וכ׳ (not לך) one dare not throw the bundle (containing forbidden garments) over one’s shoulder”

• Sifrei Devarim 232:2 - לא יַפְשִׁילֶנּוּ בקופה וכ׳ (not לקופה);

• Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 614:1 - לא יִפְשְׁלֶנּוּ בקופה וכ׳;

• and frequently.

• Bereishit Rabbah 22, end;

• Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 38:5 - הפשיל דברים לאחוריו וכ׳ - “he (Cain) threw the words (which he had heard) over his shoulder and went off,” i.e. was petulant.

• Pesikta Shub., p. 160a - יצא כמפשיל דברים וכ׳ - “he went off like one that casts the words etc.”

• Vayikra Rabbah 10 - הפשיל בגדיו לאחוריו, see supra.

A recurring feature across many of these is that the term conveys a sense of casualness. In our sugya, it seems to indicate a sense of defeatism (see the next line and note).

For the instance of this idiom in Menachot 85b, see my piece here, section “The Galilean Oil Tycoon: The agent of Laodicea, the Farmer of Gush Ḥalav, and the Olive Oil Wealth of Asher’s Land (Menachot 85b)“, sub-section “The agent, skeptical due to the farmer’s casual behavior and the modest rural setting, assumes he’s been tricked“.

6. פחי נפש.

On this idiom, see Jastrow (modernized):

פְּחִי

(פחה, compare פּוּחַ) blowing out, expiration;

פחי נפש (compare מַפָּח) despair, disappointment.

• Shabbat 127b:2 - הלך לביתו בפחי נפש - “went home in despair”

• Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 2:6 - כדי שלא יצאו בפחי נפש - “that they (the witnesses) might not leave in disappointment (and be discouraged from coming again)”

• and frequently.

7. perakmatya - from Greek.

8. Meaning, to the Temple. This is a frequently invoked scenario in the Talmud. See, for example, my two-part series, “Stories of Disinheritance and Consecration to the Temple (Bava Batra 133b-134a)“, final part here; and see my intro there in Part 1, on hekdesh.

9. Ed. Steinsaltz explains:

in a mikveh to purify himself before Torah study and prayer […]

This conduct could arouse suspicion that the pious man kept the young woman for himself, as immersion in the morning is customary for men who have experienced a seminal emission by engaging in sex.

This is referring to the halachic concept of keri (“a seminal emission”), explicitly referenced in the ensuing section, in the students’ “favorable interpretation”:

Perhaps due to the exertion of travel --

keri (קרי) befell the rabbi.

10. מטרוניתא - from Latin.

11. גדולי - literally: “great ones”.

12. Compare the similar rhetorical back-and-forth, in the same context of selecting which tannaitic sage should be sent to Rome on a political mission,, in my “Pt2 Debates and Miracles: Logic, Exorcism, and the Repeal of Roman Anti-Jewish Laws (Meilah 17a-b)“, section “R’ Shimon ben Yohai and R’ Shimon ben Yosi“:

אמרו: מי ילך ויבטל הגזרות?

ילך רבי שמעון בן יוחאי,

שהוא מלומד בנסים.

ואחריו מי ילך?

רבי אלעזר בר רבי יוסי

The Sages then said: Who will go and nullify these decrees?

Let R’ Shimon ben Yoḥai go to Rome,

as he is accustomed to experiencing miracles.

And who shall go after him, i.e., with him?

R’ Elazar b. Yosei.

13. ניתזה צינורא.

Ed. Steinsaltz explains:

The Sages decreed that the legal status of a non-Jew is like that of a zav; their bodily fluids transmit ritual impurity.

On this, see my “Pt3 Trending Talmud: Top Queries, Popular Posts, and Plain Readings of Controversial Talmudic Passages“, section “Impurity of a Non-Jewish Child Experiencing Ziva (Avodah Zarah 36b-37a)“, and my note there.

See this same occurrence—with the same idiom used—in an anecdote in Yoma.47a.11 (on this story, see Hebrew Wikipedia, “קמחית (אם הכהנים הגדולים)“):

אמרו עליו על רבי ישמעאל בן קמחית:

פעם אחת סיפר דברים עם ערבי אחד בשוק,

ונתזה צינורא מפיו על בגדיו.

ונכנס ישבב אחיו ושמש תחתיו.

וראתה אמן שני כהנים גדולים ביום אחד.

The Talmud continues to discuss R’ Yishmael ben Kimḥit.

They said about R’ Yishmael ben Kimḥit:

Once he was talking to a certain Arab in the market on Yom Kippur,

and a drop of saliva sprayed from the Arab’s mouth onto the clothes of R’ Yishmael, who was the High Priest at the time. This spittle rendered him ritually impure by rabbinic law, like the ritual impurity of a zav, preventing him from serving in the Temple.

And his brother Yeshevav entered and served as High Priest on that day in his stead.

And, consequently, their mother saw two of her sons serving as High Priests on a single day.

And in Niddah.33b.18-19:

תנו רבנן:

מעשה בצדוקי אחד

שספר עם כהן גדול בשוק,

ונתזה צנורא מפיו

ונפלה לכהן גדול על בגדיו,

והוריקו פניו של כהן גדול,

וקדם אצל אשתו.

§ A baraita states:

There was an incident involving a certain Sadducee

who was conversing with the High Priest in the marketplace,

and as he was speaking, saliva [tzinora] sprayed from his mouth

and fell onto the garments of the High Priest.

And the face of the High Priest turned green, as he feared that his garments had been rendered ritually impure.

And he rushed to the Sadducee’s wife to inquire whether she properly observed the halakhot of menstruation, in which case his garments were not rendered impure by the saliva of her husband, as he is not considered one who has sex with a menstruating woman.

אמרה לו:

אף על פי שנשי צדוקים הן,

מתיראות מן הפרושים,

ומראות דם לחכמים.

She said to him:

Even though women such as myself are the wives of Sadducees, who do not follow in the ways of the Pharisees,

they are scared of the Pharisees

and they show their blood to the Sages when an uncertainty arises.

The garments of the High Priest are therefore pure, as the Sadducee wives properly observe the halakhot of menstruation.

On the Sadducees’ purported “fear” of the Pharisees (in the context of halachic practice), according to the Talmud, see also elsewhere in the Talmud, in my recent “Pt2 Anecdotes in Pesachim and Yoma: A Selected Anthology“, section “Yoma 19b - Sadducean High Priest offers incense per Sadducee reading“:

פגע בו אביו,

אמר לו:

בני!

אף על פי שצדוקין אנו,

מתיראין אנו מן הפרושים.

The father of that Sadducee High Priest met him and said to him:

My son!

although we are Sadducees and you performed the service in accordance with our opinion,

we fear the Pharisees and do not actually implement that procedure in practice.