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Sefer Chafetz Chayim                  םייח ץפח רפס
 Hilchot Esurei Lashon Hara        ערה ןושל ירוסיא תוכלה
 Kelal Yud  -  Halachah 4               י הכלה -  י ללכ


 (K10/4/5)  –(18)  ..“  word  will  get  back  to  him”:  This  is  not    תוריבע ןתואב קזחתנו דומל אוהש ןויכד הז ךייש
 comparable to what I wrote above in the 1  halacha of this Kelal, “(where
 st
 we permitted the disclosure) whether the victim was aware of it or not    אלש המכ לכ הבושת השע אמש וילע בושחל ןיא
 aware of it.”   There the reason is as was stated in the quoted reference    הליגמב  ןנירמאד  הממ  ערג  אלד  שוריפב  וניאר
 to Rabbeinu Yonah, that the speaker’s disclosure is comparable to single
 witness  testimony in matters of  monetary dispute where  the obligation    הינעמוש יאנסד ןאמ יאה ,אקריפ ףוסב )ב"ע ה"כ(
 to testify is unqualified (i.e., that he must testify).  But there the case is   .'וכו ירש
 different, that the public disclosure is permitted only if the speaker first
 concluded  that  there  would  be  a  beneficial  outcome  to  the  victim  in  a
 matter involving value (i.e., restoring the victim’s money or some other    בתכ  םש  מ"שבש  ףאד  ג"עצ  החכוהד  טרפה  םג
 asset of value).  Thus in that case (of single witness testimony) we have no    אה  עמשמ  החכות  לבקמ  וניאש  וב  עדויש  ןוגכ
 doubt that word will get back to “this person” (who created the problem
 and from whom we fully expect compensation to the victim).  But that is    הדמל קר אוהד רשפא ,וחיכוהל בייוחמ יכה ואל
 not so in our case, where the speaker assessed the situation and concluded    קר אוה רפסמה תנווכד ןויכ אמלעב הוצמו הבוט
 there would be no monetary benefit in publicizing this person’s behavior.
 Nevertheless, the speaker in publicizing what he saw (in making comments    תונהל ו"ח אלו וירחא וננריש י"ע בושיש ותלעותל
 about  this  person  that  are  ostensibly  Lashon  Hara  ),  his  comments  are    הלחתמ והוחיכויש אוה בוט רתוי ר"השל רופיסמ
 still exempt from the esur of Lashon Hara since his motivation is to alert
 society and keep people away from this evil person so they will not learn    אלו לכה ידי הזב אצויו הזב וליעוהל לכוי ילוא
 to copy his evil lifestyle.   ,הלעמל ש"מכו ותונג רפסל ךרטצי
 Given this, still, what about the speaker’s violations of the laws of Rechilut
 (did they suddenly disappear)?  (How could we allow this speaker to make    םימעפ  המכ  רקפש  וניארש  ןויכ  ןידה  ןמ  לבא
 comments about this person that are Rechilut?).  Based on what we see    כ"א הרוסא איהש לארשי לכל תמסרופמה הריבעב
 in our society today, because of the many sins of society, great strife can   VOL-3
 result if the comments are allowed, that word of these remarks will get    ךתימע ללכמ אציד ומכו הזב ךתימע ללכמ אצי
 back to this person resulting in severe controversy without any resulting    ךלת אל ןינעלו ותימע תא שיא ונות אל ןינעל
 benefit.  (It is well understood that the essential reason forbidding Rechilut
 is  to  prevent  the  onset  in  Jewish  society  of  strife,  argumentation  and    ט"יר רמאמב ת"שב י"ר בתכש ומכו ךימעב ליכר
 controversy).  It is much more likely that these kinds of comments by the    עידוהלו  ויללעמב  ומילכהל  רתומ  הז  םעטמד
 speaker will only provoke controversy and will not appreciably change
 society’s attitudes towards this person and cause society to stay away from    תוצמ ןינעל ימנ ןידה אוהד רשפא ןכ ויתובעות
 him and not be influenced by his evil lifestyle.   לבקי אלש רוריבב עדוי  וניא םא וליפא החכוה
 Even though there is slight reason to permit these comments because it is    ביתכ ךתימע תא חיכות חכוה נ"ה אהד ,ותחכות
 possible that this person can be influenced by society’s opinion and change    תרדא רפסב יתיאר ןכו ,תווצמבו הרותב ךתאש םע
 his lifestyle from bad to good, to compensate the “victim” and reimburse
 the theft or the “damages” he caused, as I wrote above, nevertheless it    םע ,החכוהד ךתימע לע בתכד םישודק 'פב והילא
 seems  obvious  to  me  to  decide  the  law  stringently  (and  not  allow  the    ץלמ  הזה  שיאה  ערג  אלו  ,תוצמו  הרותב  ךתאש
 comments).  Who knows if public opinion will actually cause this person
 to change for the good since he was already approached privately (and   .'וכו ץל חכות לא ביתכד


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