Page 169 - VOL-2

Sefer Chafetz Chayim
Hilchot Esurei Lashon Hara

Kelal Dalet - Halachah 4

though his Yetzer Hara overpowered him once, his soul is already
ashamed and embittered at having committed the sin and his heart
is in fright and great dread of the crime he committed. Chazal have
taught (Gemara Berachot 19a): “If you saw a Talmid Chacham who
committed a sin at night, one may not have any suspicions or doubts
about him by the following day because he most certainly did do
Teshuvah.”

Hagahah

Everything that has been written here in these paragraphs (laws) was in
the context of gaining no benefit since the disclosure would not prevent
someone else from distancing themselves from sin. But if there is a benefit
to be gained by separating someone from a sin (19), for example, the
speaker saw a woman commit adultery and the halacha does not allow
a man to live with his wife once she has committed adultery. Even if he
is the only witness to this action, he must disclose (20) to the husband
(21) what he saw in order that the husband separate himself (from his
adulterous wife) from committing a sin. But this disclosure is obligatory
only when he was an actual witness to the adultery, meaning, that the act
of adultery causes her to be forbidden to her husband. However if he only
heard about this action from others, that in this instance the halacha does
not forbid a woman to her husband (based on hearsay), or if he came to
know about the action through other means, it is still forbidden to disclose
the action. (Please see the following postscript). And even if he did see
the adulterous action he should not disclose it to her husband unless he
first assesses that her husband will possibly (22) believe him as he would
believe two independent witnesses, and would then separate himself from
her. However, if this witness believes the husband will not believe him,
then it would be forbidden to disclose his wife’s adulterous actions and it
would be obviously forbidden to disclose the action to anyone else.
[Poral Ta’asiyot] A postscript from the end of the Sefer Chafetz Chayim is
inserted here:

Don’t challenge this statement and attempt to prove your question from
the Tosafot in Gemara Ketubot (2a) (citation beginning with the words
“and if”) because the answer there can be expressed in several ways.
Subsequently, with Hashem’s help, I located in a Responsa of the Chemdat
Shelomo (section on Orach Chayim, paragraph #16, #17 and #18) explicit

159

volume 2