LEV899 One who speaks or listens to lashon hara also transgresses the prohibition of לֹ֤א תְחַלְּלוּ֙ אֶת־שֵׁ֣ם קָדְשִׁ֔י, “Do not desecrate My holy Name” (Vayikra 22:32). Since a person has no physical desire for or benefit from lashon hara through which the yetzer hara can prevail over him, this sin is viewed as an act of rebelling and casting off the yoke of Heaven, and constitutes a desecration of Hashem’s name. This applies even to an average Jew, and is especially relevant to a distinguished individual. Since everyone observes such a person's actions, he unquestionably desecrates Hashem’s Name by speaking or listening to lashon hara. Moreover, if one commits this sin publicly, then his sin is all that much worse, for he enters the category of one who desecrates Hashem’s Name publicly.