NUM260 It would appear, based on several incidents described in the Bible, that it is permitted to discuss well-known cases of wrongful behavior in order to educate people not to do such things. Thus the Bible reveals negative behavior by some of its leading characters; its probable motive for doing so was to warn readers against such behavior... The Bible details for us Moses' occasional bad temper, and how it caused him to be denied entry to the land of Israel (Numbers 20:1–13). Telling us about this in the Torah can perhaps likewise be designated as a kind of "lashon hara for a purpose." ... The Talmud rules that if a matter has become known to many people, it is no longer regarded as lashon hara (Arachin 16a). [Even in such cases, we must be careful to say only what we know to be true; exaggeration still puts us in violation of the prohibition against slander (see chapter 43)]. Nonetheless, common sense suggests that when such incidents are mentioned to influence people to act more righteously, it might be best to use age-old incidents from the Bible and Talmud, rather than to cite current or recent incidents that will cause shame to the person who sinned, and to the person's family.