Who deserves Kav Zechut?

Kaf zechut, the benefit of the doubt, is not for everyone. You have to understand this very clearly: you only give kaf zechut to someone who is considered an adam, a decent human being, not someone who acts like a behemah, like an animal. If a person is righteous, if he's known to be a Shomer Torah u'Mitzvot, if he's a Talmid Chacham, then you're obligated to give him kaf zechut. Even if you see him doing something that doesn't look right, you have to use your imagination to come up with a reason why what he's doing is actually permitted. Maybe you're not seeing the whole picture clearly. There's something behind the scenes that you don't know about. For example, if you see a righteous rabbi driving on Shabbat, you have to give him kaf zechut. Maybe there's somebody dying in the backseat and he's taking them to the hospital. Maybe it's pikuach nefesh, saving a life. Hashem gave you an imagination not to make cartoons and Mickey Mouse drawings, but to create excuses for other righteous people, to give them the benefit of the doubt. But here's what you need to know: you're not allowed to give kaf zechut to a wicked person. If someone is a known rasha, a known thief, a known murderer, a known Mechalel Shabbat who does it on purpose with no fear of Hashem, then you cannot give him kaf zechut. In fact, you have to assume the worst. If Hitler, yimach shemo, all of a sudden starts giving out sandwiches to people, you're not allowed to give him kaf zechut. You have to say he probably put poison in the food. Why? Because he has a track record of being a murderer. If a known thief all of a sudden starts giving tzedakah, it's probably because he just robbed a bank and he's getting rid of the evidence. He's being generous with other people's money. The Chachamim teach us very clearly: someone who gets people away from Hashem, away from Torah, away from the truth - whether he's a Christian missionary, a Reform rabbi, or anyone causing Jews to sin - you cannot give him any kaf zechut whatsoever. There is no benefit of the doubt for such a person. It's forbidden, like eating pork. You also have to give kaf zechut to HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself. When Hashem gives you suffering, when He causes you difficulties, you should be sure it's for your benefit, for your interest. If He judged you exactly the way you serve Him, He would destroy you right now. When you get a heartache, a headache, a bank ache, a mortgage ache, whatever suffering you have, it's all because you're not serving Hashem wholeheartedly, not one hundred percent. Give Hashem the benefit of the doubt. Trust that His solution is always better than yours. This is one of the most important things we need to learn in Mussar. If we give Hashem kaf zechut, we're always going to see in the end that HaKadosh Baruch Hu's solution is much better than ours.