The great Jewish mystic, the Rabbi of Berditchev, was known throughout nineteenth-century Europe as the Master of the Good Eye. It was said that he could see nothing of people's sins, only their virtues. . . .

The Rabbi's inspiration was a Talmud passage that calls for everyone to be weighed "on the scales of merit" (zechut, from the Hebrew zach or purity). The meaning of zachut, explains one scholar, is "to intentionally focus on what is most pure in each person — to see their highest and holiest potential." It is a reminder that compassion is not just a gift, but a path. The Good Eye is a shift of perception, a way of seeing the world, a purposive change of mind and heart. It's a transformative art, and it takes some practice.

Rabbi of Berditchev , Field Notes on the Compassionate Life by Marc Ian Barasch