DEUT1207 The sage Rabbi Yochanan taught that we should be careful not to publicize information that will cause innocent people suffering and humiliation. This applies even when we can cite Jewish law as a justification for making the matter known. For example, the Torah rules that a child born of an adulterous or incestuous union is classified as a mamzer (bastard); both the child and its descendants are forbidden to marry other Jews [this verse] unless, as the Rabbis explain, they too are bastards.[In Jewish law, the term bastard does not apply, as it does in Western societies, to a child born out of wedlock; under Jewish law such a child suffers no legal disadvantages.] However, Rabbi Yochanan advocated that those who are aware of such children's status remain silent. He told his colleagues, "It is in my power [to reveal the families of impure birth in Jerusalem] but what shall I do, seeing that the greatest men of our time are mixed up therein?" (Kiddushin 71a). Apparently, Rabbi Yohanan reasoned, "Why should I destroy these people's marital prospects, and cause suffering to some very fine, innocent people?" This teaching should serve as a reminder to all of us who casually pass on gossip and unflattering information about others. Either out of malice or the desire to be perceived as knowledgeable, many people share privileged information about others that can cause them great embarrassment and damage their reputations.