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and the ten men with him, and killed Gedaliah…with the #388:16, in the name of the responsa of the Rashba) “…when it comes #
sword, killing him, and all the men who were with him… to the law of the land, we do not concern ourselves with bringing two
And the pit into which Yishmael threw all the bodies of kosher witnesses, for they merely seek to uncover what they believe
the people who had been killed at the hands of Gedaliah to be the truth. Therefore they could kill someone based on the testi-
is [the same] that King Assa made… mony of his relatives and even based on his own admission… because
if we do not say so but base everything on Torah law, the world would
The Gemara in Niddah (61a) asks: Why does the verse imply that be desolate because murderers would increase. Even more than that,
Gedaliah killed these people, when in fact, it was Yishmael who killed for we see that Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon, arrested robbers and
them? Since Gedaliah should have been cautious due to the advice punished them.”
of Yochanan ben Kareach and was not, it is considered as though he
killed them. Rava noted that although one is not to accept words of
lashon hara as fact, one should still take note of them and be cautious. 1 AnsweR to Question 2
The Chafetz Chaim writes (Hilchos Lashon Hara, Rule 6:10) that
from there we learn that even though accepting lashon hara as fact is We can now rule on the second question, regarding a patient who told
prohibited by the Torah, our Sages say that one should be cautious his psychiatrist about robberies that he committed. Is the physician
in case it is true. This implies that one should safeguard oneself from obligated to report this to the police?
harm, even while not harboring anyany doubt in one’s mind that the We wrote above that in general a person cannot present himself as 20818_efi-ab - 20818_efi-ab | 13 - A | 18-08-20 | 13:29:04 | SR:-- | Magenta
slander is false, for a person has a presumption of innocence. being wicked or evil, and we do not mete out physical punishment, #20818_efi-ab - 20818_efi-ab | 13 - A | 18-08-20 | 13:29:04 | SR:-- | Yellow 20818_efi-ab - 20818_efi-ab | 13 - A | 18-08-20 | 13:29:04 | SR:-- | Black 20
The Chafetz Chaim also writes (Hilchos Rechilus, Rule 9, Be’er May- such as flogging or imprisonment, based on his own confession.
im Chaim #9) in the name of the Rosh (Niddah 9:5) that one must When it comes to money, however, if the patient has admitted his
suspect that the lashon hara [is true] in a case where it may come to sin before two witnesses, they could force him to repay what he stole.
cause him or others harm. If one does not concern oneself at all, the Regarding money, the admission of the perpetrator is equivalent to
results may be like the case of Rabbi Tarfon (in Niddah 61a) and like one hundred witnesses.
the story of Gedaliah ben Achikam.
Even if the physician saw the theft with his own eyes, and is hope-
The Chafetz Chaim (ibid.) adds, ful that with good treatment his patient may be healed, he should still
not give the patient over to the authorities. The physician is presently
I will bring one small illustration from which an intelligent obligated by two different mitzvos: a) the return of the stolen money
person can make comparisons to all similar cases. If a per- and b) the return of the soul of the robber. If he tells the authorities
son wants to hire someone as a servant and someone saw or the victim of the robbery, the money may be returned but he will
him stealing from someone else, then halachah indicates have lost the thief ’s confidence and thus his soul. This is especially
that he needs to reveal this knowledge to the person who so in our days, where, in jail, the thief may only develop into a greater
is seeking to hire a servant… But if he sees that his reve- thief and possibly transgress other sins as well. On the other hand, if
lation will cause this man to become widely known in the he attempts to rehabilitate the thief, the physician will very possibly
city as a thief, and [the people of the city] will cause him see results and ultimately the robber will repent and voluntarily re-
great harm, as is the bad habit of some men who rule on turn what he stole. In this way the physician will have fulfilled both
394 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Publicizing the sins of a psychiatric patient 2 387
