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Mekor Hachayim Sefer Chafetz Chayim
Hilchot Esurei Lashon Hara

Kelal Vav

favorably and (thereby) agrees with the speaker’s denigration of the
victim, not only transgresses the Aseh of (Vayikrah 19:15) “judge
your fellow Jew favorably” but he is also included in the category
of someone who accepts Lashon Hara as truth (20), and because he
did not judge the victim favorably he automatically becomes totally
immersed in disgraceful \ denigrating language.

K6/8. All of this applies if the victim was an average person,

someone who is careful not to sin but occasionally slips. And all
the more so if this victim is a G‑d fearing person about whom there
is an even greater imperative to fulfill the Aseh of “judge your
fellow Jew favorably” (as the Rambam writes in his commentary on
Mishnayot Avot (1st perek, mishnah #17) and in Rabbeinu Yonah’s
Shaare Teshuvah (the 3rd sha’ar, section #218). By violating the
Aseh of favorably judging one’s fellow Jew and agreeing with the
speaker’s denigrating remarks, most certainly this listener violates
the esur of accepting as truth the Lashon Hara he hears.

Be'er Mayim Chayim on page 355

K6/9. Just as it is possible to violate the esur of believing Lashon

Hara when the speaker demeans someone by saying that he did
something now that was inappropriate, and we are commanded (by
the Torah) not to believe that his remarks are truthful (as I discussed
in the 1st halacha in this Kelal), so too by believing Lashon Hara it
is possible to transgress other aspects of Lashon Hara as discussed
above. For example, humiliating the victim because of something
his family did (21) or because of something he may have done earlier
in his life even though his lifestyle is now proper, as it should be
(22), or because he is not very smart, either in Torah or in worldly
(social) matters – as discussed in the 4th Kelal and 5th Kelal, and in
other similar matters, in any circumstance that might be degrading
to the victim, that we are commanded not to believe the speaker’s
comments and formulate a lowly \ humiliating opinion of the victim.

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