GEN1437 (Continued from [[LEV491]] Leviticus 19:16 idly-by SEFER 30-1). Furthermore, lashon hara was the main reason that Bnei Yisrael descended to Egypt, as the pasuk says [this verse].  Because of Yosef’s words, it was decreed in Heaven that he should be sold as a slave, which was a measure-for-measure punishment for his having said that his brothers called some of their brothers slaves, as the Midrash Genesis Rabbah 84:7 and the Yerushalmi [Jerusalem Talmud] in Peah 1:1.   Even though Yosef thought he had a reason that halachically justified relating this information, as the commentaries, explain, you see that no justification helped him, and he was punished nonetheless. Moreover, the primary cause of our current galus was the incident with the Spies, as the pasuk says וַיִּשָּׂ֣א יָדֹ֣ו לָהֶ֑ם לְהַפִּ֥יל וגו׳ וּ֝לְזָרֹותָ֗ם בָּאֲרָצֹֽות׃ And He lifted His hand against them to make them fall... and to scatter them among the lands (Tehillim 106:26-27). Rashi there explains [that this was a punishment for the sin of the Spies, which is mentioned in the previous pesukim], and the Ramban on who Chumash gives a similar explanation in his commentary on the episode of the Spies (Bamidbar 14:1). Chazal say in Arachin (15a) that the primary sin of the Spies was the derogatory report they gave about Eretz Yisrael. Because Bnei Israel cried then for nothing, it was decreed that they would subsequently cry for generations to come. [Consequently, our current galus is a result of the Spies’ sin of lashon hara.] We have suffered countless other calamities due to this terrible sin. The deaths of all of the talmidei chachamim who were killed by King Yanai during the time of Shimon ben Shetach—Yanai’s brother-in-law--were also due to rechilus, as the Gemara explains in Kiddishin (66 a). The murder of the Tanna Rabbi Elazar Hamoda’i, which caused the destruction of the city of Beitar, was also the result of rechilus, for people spoke rechilus about him before Ben Koziva, as the Midrash on Eichah explains (Eichah Rabbah 2:4). Due to the severe repercussions of this deplorable trait, the Torah specifically warns us against it with the explicit prohibition of לֹא־תֵלֵ֤ךְ רָכִיל֙ בְּעַמֶּ֔יךָ, Do not go as a talebearer among your nation (Vayikra 19:16), as we will explain later. (This is in contrast to anger, cruelty, scoffing, and all other bad traits, none of which the Torah forbad with an explicit prohibition among the 613 mitzvos--even though they, too, destroy the image and form of one's soul, and the Torah alludes to them in several places, as Chazal point out.) Furthermore, there is another obvious reason why the Torah specifically cautioned us against lashon hara. When we carefully consider these practices of lashon hara and rechilus, we will discover that they encompass almost all of the negative and positive commandments in the area of bein adam l’chaveiro, as well as many mitzvos in the area of bein adam l’Makom, as we will explain. Therefore, the Torah specifically cautioned us about lashon hara and rechilus, to prevent us from being ensnared in this dangerous trap.   SEFER 31-2