LEV997 Speaking lashon hara very often involves another prohibition, that of onaas devarim (hurting someone with words). This prohibition is commonly violated when one humiliates another person by mentioning his past misdeeds, a flaw in his family, his minimal knowledge in Torah or in his line of work (each person according to his particular field), or by making any other comment that upsets or unnerves the other person and leaves him defenseless. One who makes such a comment transgresses the prohibition of לֹ֤א תֹונוּ֙ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־עֲמִיתֹ֔ו, “Do not distress a member of your nation” (Vayikra 25:17), which refers to onaas devarim, as explained in Bava Metzia (58b). This prohibition applies even if the speaker offends the other person in private, and it applies all the more if he offends the other person in the presence of others. Accordingly, one who disparages another person before others by speaking lashon hara or rechilus about him and his presence not only violates the prohibitions of lashon hara and rechilus, as we wrote above, but also violates the prohibition of onaas devarim.