Daily Chizuk #0183

There’s a positive commandment from the Torah to judge our fellow man favorably, as it says, בצדק" תשפוט עמיתך.” The Chofetz Chaim, in explaining the guidelines of this Mitzvah, writes if we see a person doing something that could equally be looked upon positively or negatively, that is where we have an obligation to judge him favorably. If it appears that he is more guilty than innocent, then it depends; if he is known to be someone who tries to keep the mitzvot, sometimes succeeds and sometimes fails, in Hebrew he’s called a בינוני, then strictly speaking, there is not an obligation to judge him favorably, although it is pious to do so. If, however, the individual is known to be someone righteous, even if it looks like he’s guilty, we’re still obligated from the letter of the law to judge him favorably.
We must remember, no matter how unfavorable a situation appears, Hashem is still acting righteously. And that is the way we are supposed to view it.