LEV938 Oppressive Speech (ona’at devarim). Aside from lies and slander, which one might have guessed would be banned in Jewish law, and aside from telling tales, negative truths, and even the “dust” of such language, about which readers might not have thought previously, Jewish law bans another form of speech that it calls “oppressive.” The foundation for this prohibition is two verses in the Torah that assert that we must not wrong one another: “When you sell your property to your neighbor, or buy any from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another” (Leviticus 25:14); and “Do not wrong one another, but fear your God, for I, the Lord, am your God” (Leviticus 25:17). The Rabbis, following the interpretive principle that nothing in the Torah is superfluous or redundant, determined that the first verse applies to wronging one another in material goods, as the context suggests, and the second, which actually ends the same section about buying and selling, nevertheless refers to wronging people through words: “Our Rabbis taught: “‘Do not wrong one another’ (Leviticus 25:17). Scripture refers to verbal wrongs.” “You say verbal wrongs, but perhaps that is not so but rather monetary wrongs is meant?” “When Scripture says, ‘You shall not wrong one another’ (Leviticus 25:14), monetary wrongs are already dealt with. Then to what can I refer ‘Do not wrong one another’ (Leviticus 25:17)? To verbal wrongs” (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 58b). The Mishnah and Talmud then define what is included in this ban on verbal oppression: “Just as there is wronging others in buying and selling, so too there is wronging another done by words. [So, for example,] one must not ask another, “What is the price of this article?” if he has no intention of buying. If a person repented [of his sin], one must not say to him, “Remember your former deeds.” If a person is a child of converts, one must not say to him, “Remember the deeds of your ancestors,” because it is written [in the Torah], “You shall neither wrong a stranger nor oppress him” (Exodus 22:20). – Mishnah, Bava Metzia 4:10 (58b]