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Introduction to החיתפ 6 VOL-1
Sefer Chafetz Chayim םייח ץפח רפסל
Laveen - L6
ד ואל - ןיואל

a transgression occurs. Anyone who trivializes even one mitzvah or treats ןינעל ר"השלב היתווכד נ"הו .רוהטה ל"כע הריבעה תא
G‑d’s honor lightly is called “a person who desecrates Hashem’s Name”
(quoted up until this point). .לבקמהו רפסמה
Especially regarding this Lav of Lashon Hara and Rechilut, we see that )'ו ףד( הרז הדובעמ אוה לבקמ ןינעל קוליח םינפב ש"מו
because of society’s sins, because of the general mindset of the society
in which we live, people who are accustomed to speaking Lashon Hara יאקדב קר רבוע ןיא הרותה ןמ רוע ינפלד םש ןנירמאד
trivialize these laws and don’t even see their speech as violating any Lav at .ןנברד ןינעל ן"רב ש"עו ארהנד ירבע ירתב
all. If these people speak badly about other Jews and thoroughly denigrate
them, and if you were to ask one of them why he spoke Lashon Hara or םושמ רשפא ןושלב יתבתכו הז רבד יתטלחה אלש המו
Rechilut against his fellow Jew, the speaker would offer a thousand reasons
why it was permissible and that what he said was not even Lashon Hara. ןניזחד ןויכ רוע ינפל לע רבוע הזב םג ילוא ע"צ יל שיד
And if you showed him clear proof that what he spoke was absolutely אוש עמש אישמ אוהש לע רפסמה לע הרותה הדיפקהד
Lashon Hara, this speaker would turn around and tell you that even if
it was Lashon Hara, the Torah urges this kind of language to be spoken רשפא אישת אל ימנ היב ירק ).ח"יק( םיחספב אתיאדכ
about that person because that person is not who he seems to be or is a ליכאמד אימוד הז ואלב םיעמושהמ דחא לכ לע רבועד
person who manipulates other people and it is a mitzvah to publicize his
wrongdoings. He would go on to tell you that he has seen this person רוסיאה הברתי םילכואה וברתיש לכד םישנא המכל רוסיא
commit various other crimes that are violations of the Torah (note that all לע םיעמושהמ דחא לכ רבע אליממ כ"או ליכאמה לע
of this is nothing but a self-serving rationalization).
אלד ואלב רפסמה תא לישכמ אוהש לע רוע ינפלד ואל
In summary, the more you show this speaker that he was wrong, that his
sin was very great because of the language he used, the more this person .ע"צו אישת
will speak Lashon Hara and Rechilut to the point where he no longer
considers the person he is speaking about to be “Ami’techa” – a brother םינפוא הנומשה לכב ךייש רוע ינפלד הז ואלד עדו
Jew. At that point he defames the person he is speaking about and claims לכב ךייש ערה ןושל לש רוסיאה םצעד ןויכ תוטישפב
that he doesn't even fall into the category of a “fellow Jew” because of his
own Yetzer Hara. לכב כ"ג רוע ינפל ךייש אליממ כ"א ,ל"נכו םינפואה
.םינפואה
Is there any other sin that is like this one? For example: if you saw someone
eating pig inadvertently and you reprimanded him for violating Hashem's
Torah and for not being careful to avoid committing this same sin again,
is it plausible that he would take a piece of pig again and eat it in front
of the person who warned him not to eat it? (And here we are not talking
about someone who maliciously repudiated Judaism, G‑d forbid. This
person is no longer counted among “Ami'techa” \ your Jewish brother).
Yet this bitter sin which has a Lav associated with it that is explicit in
the Torah and its punishment is horribly severe, as I have explained in
several places, from among the references in Shas and from our Poskim
\ Halachic Authorities. Because of our very many sins, we see that as
much as we reprimand someone because of the Lashon Hara or gossip
that he spoke against someone else, he will go back and speak Lashon

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