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Sefer Chafetz Chayim
Hilchot Esurei Lashon Hara

Kelal Gimal - Halachah 8

he merely writes “if the incident tilts even more towards culpability then
the observer \ speaker should perceive it as doubtful” implying that if this
person (the “victim”) is positively culpable then he should be judged as
positively “guilty”! (and if we would understand Rabbeinu Yonah to permit
the disclosure of his actions then his statements would be contradictory).
Therefore the law must necessarily be as we wrote it above.

Or alternatively, Rabbeinu Yonah (in section # 218) is discussing here a
person who acted or made statements publicly and in this context Lashon
Hara is not prohibited and the only issue is the observer \ speaker must
now decide whether or not the law supported this person’s viewpoint
(meaning, the observer would have to assess the evidence presented by
the circumstances and determine whether or not the speaker’s remarks
are consistent with the law). With this approach we can understand the
Gemara Babba Metziah (75b) regarding this person (a supposed lender)
who brought a curse upon himself \ who caused society to curse him (since
he lent money without witnesses or documentation and is now demanding
payment with no substantiation of the loan). We explained above in the 10th
notation that there is nothing forbidding an observer to curse the supposed
lender because his unsubstantiated payment demands were made in public
(in Beit Din), as this person (the purported lender) summoned him (the
accused borrower) to court (and by this action he cast suspicion on himself
for admitting to have lent money without witnesses or substantiation
and thus opens himself up to being cursed by society for making an
unsubstantiated claim) and we only need to determine whether or not the
law supported his claim (that he lent money to this borrower). But in a
situation where we are obliged to disclose to others what this person did,
one must first very carefully study the circumstances. Certainly if the
incident involved this person in his relationship with G‑d, most assuredly
one should not rush to disclose it to others, as I will discuss this in the
coming 4th Kelal. And even if this incident involved this person in his
relationship with someone else (then before disclosing it to others) one
must first carefully study all of the conditions for disclosure brought down
further on in the 10th Kelal otherwise he could easily fall into speaking
absolute Lashon Hara.

End of the 3rd Kelal

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