One must be especially careful when a person is in trouble that one must try to work out defenses for him and not mention his sins. He should not act like those light-headed people who say “This and this was the cause for all this, and that is why this trouble came upon him!”, for it is well-known that the Satan only accuses at a time of danger. One must also be very careful not to mention the sins of the earth-dwellers who are standing in judgment. A good man will speak good about Klal Yisrael and brings redemption to the world.
The saying of the Tana is well-known when he said that “One who commits one sin acquires for himself one accuser, and one who performs one good deed acquires for himself one defender!”. It follows that every person should try with all of his energy to minimize the accusers and maximize the defenders by fulfilling the commandments and doing good deeds and learning Torah. It is known that an accuser cannot become a defender, and he should therefore be very careful when performing a Mitzvah that the money should be permitted money, and it should not, G-d forbid, be a good deed which comes about through a sin.
