LEV587 It is a positive commandment to upbrade a sinner as Scripture says, you shall surely rebuke your fellow [this verse]. He is to inform him that he does himself a wrong by his evil acts; and he is to inform him that he is telling him this only for his own benefit, to bring him to life in the world-to-come. It is his duty to reprimand him until he listens to him, or until he strikes him and says, "I will not listen to you." There are some early authorities who are lenient about this, holding that it is enough until there is an angry retort [that the other gives us and rejecting our efforts]. But even the first view applies specifically when the person violates a prohibition by Torah law, and when he estimates that it will be effective for the future, that the other person will not do this thing again. Even a person of lower stature is duty-bound to rebuke a person of higher stature. Whoever has it in his power to oppose [a sinner in his act] and does not do so, falls victim to the guilt of his sin. Now, even though it is a religious duty to rebuke him [a sinner], he should not shame him first. It is a religious requirement to accept rebuke and to bear the chastiser affection. We find in the teachings of the Sages (Talmud Bavli, Shabbath 40a) that even if a person willfully violates a prohibition enacted by the Sages, it is permissible to call him a transgressor.