LEV527 One who speaks rechilus violates a Torah prohibition, as it says: לֹא־תֵלֵ֤ךְ רָכִיל֙ בְּעַמֶּ֔יךָ, “Do not go as a talebearer among your nation” (Vayikra 19:16). Rechilus is a severe sin, one that could potentially lead to the murder of many Jews. For this reason, the Torah juxtaposes this prohibition with their prohibition of לֹ֥א תַעֲמֹ֖ד עַל־דַּ֣ם רֵעֶ֑ךָ, “Do not stand idly by while your fellow’s blood is spilled.” (Ibid.) As an example of how rechilus might lead to murder, take note of what happened as a result of the rechilus spoken by Doeg the Adami-- the entire city of kohanim, Nov, was massacred. [See, 1 Samuel 21:22 – AJL]. This prohibition of rechilus that we refer to is the one that the Torah specifically wrote as an explicit prohibition, but there are many other negative and positive commandments that one transgresses when speaking rechilus, as we explained in the opening sections. What is the Torah’s definition of a “talebearer”? One who “carries words” from one person to another and goes around telling people: “This person said this about you,” or “This person did this to you,” or “I heard that this person did this to you or wants to do that to you.” even if the information being relayed is not inherently derogatory--and the speaker himself did not say it in a derogatory manner-- it is nevertheless considered rechilus [if it will cause ill feelings on the part of the listener toward the person spoken about]. It is considered rechilus to relate such information even if the speaker knows that the person whom he is speaking about would not deny the information if he were asked about the matter, whether because his behavior was justified or because his actions and words were well intended. The prohibition of rechilus applies even if the speaker does not intend to cause ill feelings on the part of the listener toward the person being spoken about. Moreover, even if the speaker feels that the person he is speaking about was justified in what he did to or said about the listener, it is still forbidden. Take, for example, a situation in which Shimon reprimands Reuven for something he said about him or did to him, and Reuven responds by claiming that his behavior was justified, as evidenced by the fact that Yehuda said the same thing about Shimon. If Reuven thinks that this statement will cause Shimon to bear ill will toward Yehudah, it is considered rechilus.