On One Foot
RABBI YISRAEL MEIR KAGAN, SEFER CHOFETZ CHAIM (1873), PART 1:1 PRINCIPLE 1 AND PART 1:10 PRINCIPLE 1-2
It is forbidden to speak demeaningly of one’s friend, even if it be absolute truth. And this is termed ev- erywhere by Chazal lashon hara . Even if one speaks true statements which will not cause any visible damage, one transgresses this prohibition. If one witnessed someone committing a wrong against his fellow—such as theft, damage, embar- rassment, or wrongdoing—even if only a single person saw it — and the offender has not yet repent- ed, it is permitted to relate this to others, for the purpose of helping the guilty person repent and re- pairing the wrong. However, there are seven precise conditions which must be fulfilled before one may speak such beneficial lashon hara: · You personally witnessed the event, or you conducted due diligence to verify its truth. · You are absolutely sure the incident was truly wrongful. · You first approached the offender privately. · No exaggeration — report facts accurately, without embellishment. · You have a purely constructive intent. · There must be no alternative way to achieve the goal. · The harm caused by speaking must be proportionate and fair. 3
3 FOR CENTURIES, RABBINIC TRADITION has included laws about lashon hara , but with a couple of exceptions, most notably Mai- monides, these were scattered across larger texts and not given a com- prehensive treatment. Kagan is the first to collect all these sources into a single work, es- sentially codifying the thinking of the previous generations and also greatly expanding the scope of laws around speech. While he was careful to discuss both the legal and the ethical sides of lashon hara in this book and others that he wrote on the topic, his emphasis on the legalities seems to have had lasting impact: to this day, the work has become extremely popular, with daily study guides and even a foun- dation devoted to promoting lashon hara awareness. However, this legal approach is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, as we see in this passage, it gives a framework for how and when something is not only permitted, but obligatory to speak. On the oth- er hand, it means that, unless someone is an expert in the laws, they may feel unable to judge whether they are allowed to say something or not, and err on the side of silence. In the introduction to his book, Kagan lists up to 32 possible Biblical prohibitions that may be violated by speaking lashon hara , many of which aren’t directly related to the act of lashon hara itself: an approach that can have a chilling effect among those who take his work seriously.
2 IN THIS EXCERPT from a longer section of Talmud about lashon hara , the rabbis expand on the dual nature of the dangers it poses, which they frame in terms of the spiritual damage that it can cause as well as a matter of adherence to law. This sets the tone for much of the discussion in later generations, with many tak- ing up the spiritual and ethical dam- age that language can inflict, while others focus more on defining exact- ing parameters for what constitutes bad speech.
5786 סָָתיו 37
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator