The Scratch on the Dinar
Two men claimed the same gold coin, and Rav Yaakov caught the false claimant with a mark that was never there.
Rav Ovadia Yosef would often bring to life the Mishnah's warning in Pirkei Avos to be careful in judgment through an account of Rav Yaakov of Lisa, the author of Nesivos HaMishpat.
Two men once came before him, each claiming a single gold dinar. The first said that he had been walking through the marketplace, saw the coin lying on the ground and picked it up. The second insisted that it was his, that it had slipped from his pocket only moments before, and that he had never given up hope of finding it.
As Rav Yaakov listened, the second man's slippery manner troubled him. He had no proof, and a dayan may not rule on a feeling alone, so he asked the second man to wait outside and called the finder in by himself. Holding up the coin, he announced in a voice that carried through the wall that there was a small scratch beneath the first letter, a genuine siman of the kind the Gemara in Gittin discusses, and that whoever named it would receive the coin.
Then he summoned the second man and asked what mark could identify his coin. The man answered happily that there was a scratch under the first letter. Rav Yaakov opened his palm. The coin was perfectly smooth. "Then it is not yours," he said. "Go and search for the one you lost. This one belongs to the man who found it."
Source: Anaf Etz Avos (p. 4), citing Rav Ovadia Yosef's telling on Avos 1:1.
Most of us form a quick opinion of people, and it is often partly right. Before you act on one today, find a fair way to check it. If a colleague, a child or a neighbour tells you something that does not sit right, ask a plain question, give them room to answer, and listen to the whole reply. Be especially careful where someone's money, reputation or feelings are at stake. A hunch can point you where to look, but only the facts should decide.