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over is to prevent him from sinning, how can we then lead him to Revealing the secret will cause damage to the owner of the secret and
eat non-kosher food and transgress other prohibitions? Logically, this
should be prohibited. Moreover, the bad company in jail will likely
lead him to transgress in areas of modesty. This would be like throw-
ing him from the frying pan into the fire. Thus this matter requires
further study.
The second reason to permit handing him over is that one must
eliminate evil from the world. People will hear about what happened
to him and it will instill fear in them and prevent them from sinning.
When the Rambam (above) wrote that “It is forbidden to hand over a
Jew to the hands of gentiles… even if he is a wicked person and sins
habitually,” he is referring to wicked people who are argumentative
and possess evil traits but not to thieves who destroy the world.
Proof for this is that the source for the Rambam’s words is the
Gemara in Gittin (7a), which relates that Mar Ukba asked Rabbi Ela-
zar if he could hand over certain people who were pestering him to
the government. Rabbi Elazar answered him with the words, “I said
I will be careful that I not sin with my mouth. I will keep a curb on
my mouth while the wicked is before me.” In other words, although
the wicked man is before me I will keep quiet. Rashi explains that the
pasuk is dealing with people who are deriding the speaker, standing
there and bickering with him. What we learn from this Gemara is
that it is forbidden to hand over annoying or argumentative people.
We do not hear anything regarding thieves.
We also find in the Rambam (Hilchos Chovel Umazik 8) that “So,
too all who annoy the public and distress them - it is permissible to
give them over to the gentiles to hit them and to imprison them and
fine them.” This would certainly apply to thieves as well.
It seems to me that because of the second reason, it is permissible
to hand him over to the government, despite the concern that he may
be fed forbidden foods, since we are not the ones who will be feeding
him non-kosher food and we are not forcing him to sin and he will
also have some kosher food available. If he sins and eats non-kosher
food, he himself is at fault. There is also no room for concern that
278 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
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9
foil his plans.
His words imply that the prohibition of revealing a secret is not
based on the breach of trust but on the damage the revelation causes.
Therefore, there is no difference if his friend revealed the secret to him
and relied on him [not to tell] or if he learned the secret by himself. In
both situations, it is forbidden to reveal it.
The Ramban (Bava Basra 59a, s.v. ha detenan) explains the reason
for the prohibition of “damage by sight” (hezek reiya), such as open-
ing a window opposite an open window of his neighbor’s house. He
explains that this is a form of damage because of the evil eye, because
it can cause lashon hara, and because it is a breach of modesty. And
who knows how difficult it would be to get someone’s forgiveness for
this breach of privacy? And even if he forgives, it is still forbidden to
knowingly damage someone in this way. Since a person cannot beware
of this and stand all day with closed eyes, we are forced to conclude
that one must seal off a window that looks into his neighbor’s home,
and thus save himself from sin.
The Ramban clearly expresses the fact that the mere act of looking
is a sin. This may be included in the prohibition of lashon hara, even if
a person is only looking at the negative information and not planning
to speak about it.
Moreover, there is a prohibition of “stealing one’s knowledge,” or
deceiving him, which is explained in Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mish-
pat #228:6). It says that Yaakov “stole” from Lavan (Bereishis 31:20),
and the Targum translates “stole” as “outwitted.” The Ibn Ezra (ibid.,
19) explains that Yaakov did not steal anything, but only deceived La-
van. It is possible that he who reveals his friend’s secret, thereby going
against his desire to guard his privacy, is also “stealing his knowledge”
or deceiving him.
1 AnsweR to Question 2
Is one allowed to reveal the secret of a deceased person? The Chafetz
Chaim (Hilchos Lashon Hara, Rule 8, Ch. 9) cites the words of the
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