The brief summons hanging on the milkman's door bewildered him. He was an honest man who always behaved appropriately. He never cheated, lied or stole anything. He had no idea why he was invited to court but the baker knew.
 
The baker used to buy butter and cheese from the milkman for his baking. One day he suspected that the lumps of butter that the milkman sold him were under a kilo - even though the milkman insisted that each was exactly one kilo. The baker decided to check out the matter and for a period he consistently weighed every lump of butter that he bought from the milkman. He discovered that they were in fact less than a kilo. Sometimes they were 900grms, sometimes they were 950grms and once one was even 850grms.
 
The baker was angry "Cheating me," he told his wife angrily, "I am not going to be quiet about it". He went to the local court and complained about the milkman. "We have to prosecute him" said the baker. "We can't let him cheat all the villagers, people trust him!"
 
That same day the court messenger hung a notice on the milkman's house inviting him to court. The milkman arrived at the court shaking with fear. He had never been to a court house and had never spoken to the Judge. The Judge evoked a sense of fear amongst the villagers.
 
"I assume you have a very accurate scale in your dairy," said the Judge.

 

"No your honor, I do not have a scale "said the milkman.

 

"So how do you weigh the butter? Do you just guess that it is one kilo?" said the Judge.

 

"No G-d forbid, your honor - I am an honest man; it never occurred to me to do something like that. Very simply I built myself a scale - the kind that needs a weight on one side to balance the butter on the other". The Judge nodded his head, and the milkman continued. "Every morning when I come to weigh the butter for the baker I place a kilo loaf of bread on one side of the scale and this way I know that the butter that I will give to the baker will be exactly one kilo."
 
So the Judge said, you are telling us that the amount of butter that you give the baker is exactly the weight of the loaf of bread he supplies to you?"
 
"That is it, exactly it!" said the milkman.  The baker's face fell.
 
Before we set out to judge others; let's first check that our own house is in order. Don't we sometimes suffer the same failings of which we accuse others?
 
Let us remember the saying of chazal: - "Straighten yourself first, then straighten others."

 

Shabbat Shalom!