Judge Who Favorably?

Pirqey Avot. Ancestors' Chapters. chapter 1.
(i'm not giving a mishna number because they vary in different editions)

Yehoshua‘ ben Perahhya says:
"Make a sensei for yourself
 And acquire a comrade for yourself
 And judge kol ha’adam favorably."

In the spirit of inobvious readings, we are going to ignore the fact that the most probable proper understanding of the phrase kol ha’adam here is "every human being" and take a little drashic conceptual leap.

אדם doesn't just mean "human being" or "person" — it's the name of our species. Homo sapiens sapiens. Interestingly enough, just as adam "human" is associated (whether justifiably or not) with adama "earth", the English word human stems ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root dhghem-, also meaning "earth"!

So anyway, כל can mean "every" "each" or "all".
An initial, basic reading of the text would lead us to understand כל האדם as "every human being". Judge every person favorably. If someone cuts you off on the highway, don't assume "what an ass!" — instead, assume "maybe they need to get to the hospital quickly!"

Let's reread it now.
Judge kol ha’adam favorably.
כל האדם
The whole species. The entire human race.

Judge all of humanity favorably.

Don't be a misanthrope.
Don't be a self-hating human.
Don't go around saying "people are by nature evil".
Don't think that the world would get along better without us.

Sure, we've made some mistakes. But we're learning. We didn't eat that fruit in the Garden for nothing. Save the whales. Save the planet. Save ourselves. We can do it.

( reduce » reuse » recycle )

The Hunger Site and friends.

Some Negative Reinforcement:
(in case you didn't get the idea)

Ribbi Yeshoshua‘ says:
"Jealousy, Selfishness,
 And being a Self-Hating Human
 Can cause Early Death."
— Pirqey Avot chapter 2