If you hear anything at all in any way bad about another Jew, know that it is nothing but lies and folly(שקר ושוא). I'm telling you that there is nothing bad that you will hear about a Jew that has any truth to it, do not accept it. (certainly not into your heart) [I'm paraphrasing from memory, but these word essentially his words]This is well beyond Rebbe Nachman's encouragement to find the good nikkudot in even the most lowly of Israel in order to bring them over to the side of good. My rav once explained to me that the Rebbe m'Komarna (the Notzer Hesed) received ruach haKodesh at age three. He knew everything there was to know and could see everything that had ever been and everything that would ever be. At age eight (i think) his uncle took away that ruach haKodesh telling him that he needed to experience what it was to be a human, but that it would all be returned to him, and more, when he was older. The Rebbe tells about himself that he received it all back but chose to not receive one of the levels. (I don't know which level it was, or what the consequences of that were, my rav didn't go into details.)
Anyways, the Rebbe m'Komarna is telling us, with his intense knowledge of everything, he's giving us a guarantee that it matters not at all whether we think it's true, when we hear something damaging about another Jew, it is simply wrong.
This brings me a lot of comfort, I've never known when/where/how I need to hate, if ever, and I've never really wanted to hate Jews--though I'm sure there are individuals I have hated, at least until I learned the Baal Shem Tov on judging others. Now I know, no matter how much I trust the person relating to me the information, no matter how crucial it is to them that I also hate such and such a person, I can fulfill the mitzvah of emunath hahamim and know that I don't have to hate the person, and I have every choice, right, and ability to judge that person positively.
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