When Reb Zundel of Salant was learning in Volozhin, some bachurim saw him going in the morning to the marketplace and strolling between the stores with a cigar in his mouth. This was definitely not something a yeshiva bachur should have been up to. After seeing this happen a few times, they told the Rosh Yeshivah, Reb Chaim about this.
Reb Chaim called for Reb Zundel and confronted him about his behavior. Reb Zundel answered that he noticed lots of Yidden who buy bread from the goyishe stores, and so he decided that he will go every morning to throw a piece of wood in the oven. This makes the bread pas Yisroel. But how will he convince the storeowners to let him get near the oven? So he decided to take a cigar and then go to each baker and ask if he could light his cigar from the oven! While he was there, he would throw in a small piece of wood to make the bread that was baked to be considered to be baked by a Jew, since a Jew fueled the fire!
In this week’s parsha we learn the mitzvah of judging favorably. If we see our fellow Jew doing something that looks bad, we have to be dan l’kaf zechus. You never know what the real reason might be!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 78.