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Mekor Hachayim Sefer Chafetz Chayim
Hilchot Esurei Lashon Hara

Kelal Heh

who learn Torah and in so doing the speaker gains a reputation for
shaming Torah Scholars. Regarding this person, Chazal have taught
(Gemara Shabbat 119b) that there is no remedy for the affliction
that will befall this speaker. Because of his remarks, G‑d forbid,
the upholding of the Torah will greatly diminish. And if at some
point this Rav warns someone about a sin they are about to commit,
they will pay no attention to him because word of this victim (Rav)
would have been spread by this speaker, that the Rav was not a
Chacham.

Be'er Mayim Chayim on page 263

K5/3. My brother, let me ask you another question regarding

the seduction of a person by his Yetzer Hara to make him believe
these remarks are not Lashon Hara, (i.e., the speaker rationalizes
to himself that making remarks about someone else that demeans
his intelligence is not Lashon Hara), think about it in the context of
yourself. If someone told you clearly that someone else said you
were not smart, (or that you have some other character deficiency),
how great would your complaint be against the person who made
those remarks. You would think to yourself, “What did he see in
me to lead him to make those remarks and say I was stupid? This
speaker is someone with an evil disposition and an habitual speaker
of Lashon Hara whose only intention is to denigrate and trivialize
a fellow Jew.” Yet when you do this, when you talk about your
fellow Jew who in many respects is a better person than you in
his service to G‑d and to society, you think the remarks are not at
all sinful? See how terrible a sin is this seduction! And truthfully
when one examines this subject carefully (“Sholelut Ha’Maalot” \
character weaknesses) he will find in this specific style of speech
more aspects of Lashon Hara that are many times worse than other
more routine forms of Lashon Hara.

One (worse) aspect of this Lashon Hara is from the perspective
of the speaker, namely, that in other topics when a person speaks
about his fellow Jew who violated an esur, either in his relationship
with G‑d or in an interpersonal relationship, often the speaker’s

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volume 2