LEV352 See [[LEV37]] Leviticus 5:1 guilt CHINUCH 86-8

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LEV361 You shall not hold back what belongs to your neighbor. Our Torah, the only complete and perfect system of law, distances us from the cruel practice of retaining possession of what belongs to another or is rightfully due him. When someone comes to collect from us what is his, we are not allowed to hold back payment, and neither are we allowed to keep him in suspense as to when his demand will be met. One is forbidden to push him off, saying, “Come back tomorrow,” every time he comes for what rightfully is his. The Torah forbids any sort of deceptive tactic whose aim is to withhold a rightful claim. Included is the case of an employer who owes his worker wages (although here, by unlawfully withholding the wage, he is not holding back anything that belonged to the claimant previously). There are three ways to unlawfully withhold something that is rightfully the claimant’s: holding it back (עשק), stealing it (גנבה) or robbing it (גזלה). The Torah writes separate prohibitions for each of the three transgressions, for the following reasons: 1) Hashem wants only our good. So that we stay far clear of unlawful possession of what is not ours, He repeatedly warns us about taking or keeping what belongs to others. 2) Hashem wants to bestow merit upon us. To this end, He gives us, His chosen nation, a number of mitzvos, each one presenting us with another opportunity to earn reward. Reward also accrues to us when we abstain from violating prohibitions. Accordingly, although we could have been given one general commandment, such as, “Do not unjustly keep or take what belongs to another,” we were given three separate prohibitions, to increase our reward for refraining from these transgressions.

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LEV365 You shall not rob. Human intelligence readily recognizes that robbery must be prohibited. It is an evil in its own right and it also leads to anarchy. Civilized society cannot tolerate it.

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LEV369 Do not delay payment of a worker’s wages. The context of this verse is a day laborer. The Torah gives his employer the whole night until the following morning to pay him. If one hires a worker for night labor, the Torah gives the employer the complete day until the following night to pay his wage. Hashem wants that man should live. If a worker toils all day long and is not paid his wages, he might suffer weakness because of lack of food and could die during the night. If so, you might wonder why one is not required to pay the wages of day laborers immediately at nightfall. The reason is that people occasionally fast for a day. Therefore, until a day passes, a delay in payment of wages is not regarded as posing a danger to life.

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LEV382 Do not curse your fellow Jew. Generally, people are frightened if someone curses them, for they suspect that the curse might harm them. Therefore, just as Hashem forbids us to harm our fellows through our actions, He forbids us to harm them through our words. What is more, man's being has a spiritual component--his soul--and the soul has the power the influence and affect others. The greater the individual and the more he achieves closeness to Hashem—as do tzaddikim and chassidim--the quicker will his words have effect. In addition, if someone curses his fellow, even not to his face, the one who was cursed is likely to hear of it. Hashem wants to minimize strife and see us living in peace with one another. Therefore, He forbids us to curse others. The Rambam writes that this prohibition is a protective measure so that we do not become vengeful and prone to anger. From his explanation it appears that the Torah is not concerned that someone who curses his fellow might thereby harm him. Rather the Torah’s concern here is those who might utter the curses. The prohibition is meant to prevent them from developing the negative character traits of vengefulness and anger.

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LEV426 Do not place a stumbling block in front of the innocent. Do not cause harm to a fellow Jew by giving him bad advice. Do just the opposite. Give only good and helpful advice. This prohibition also forbids us to help a fellow Jew to transgress the Torah. [For example, if someone borrows or lends money with interest, he violates the prohibition to lend or borrow with interest. In addition, by simply being a party to such a loan, each party places a “stumbling block” before the other party]. Key concept: So that society prospers and functions as desired, people must give helpful advice to one another.

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LEV451 Judge all parties fairly and equally. Key concept: Ensure the smooth functioning of society. If a judge gives preferential treatment to one litigant, the other litigant might be afraid to state his claims. Or, because he feels intimidated, he might be unable to state his claims clearly. Such could cause the court to rule incorrectly. The mitzvah also applies to Torah scholars who are called upon to settle disputes to the best of their ability outside of court. Also included in this mitzvah is that all Jews must judge their fellows favorably by giving them the benefit of the doubt. That is, if someone’s acts or words can be interpreted as sinful or not sinful, one is obligated to interpret them as not sinful. Such behavior promotes peace, unity and goodwill. The main purpose of this mitzvah is to aid society by stopping people from suspecting one another.

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LEV521 It is a negative commandment not to tell anyone things that another person said against him for Scripture states, You shall not go about as a tale-bearer among your people [this verse]. Even if he speaks the truth, a person thus brings ruin into the world. It is an enormous wrong, which causes the murder of lives among the Jewish people, as we find with Do'eg the Edomite. Now, there is a criminal act very far worse than this, included under this prohibition, and that is evil gossip. This means that a person speaks disparagingly about his fellow-man, even though he tells the truth; for a person who speaks falsehood is called "one who spreads a bad report." It is evil gossip when one says, "So–and–so did this and that. Thus and so are his forefathers. This is what I heard about him." And so he relates matters of disgrace. Regarding this the Writ says, Hashem will cut off all unctuous lips, the tongue that speaks proud things (T'hillim 12:4). The Sages of blessed memory taught (Talmud Yerushalmi, Pe'ah I; see Rambam, Yad, hilchoth de'oth vii 3): For three transgressions punishment is exacted from a person in this world, and he has no share in the world-to-come: idol-worship, incest or adultery, and bloodshed. But evil gossip is equal in seriousness to them all. Our Sages of blessed memory taught further (Yalkut Shim'oni, T'hillim §656): If someone relates evil gossip, it is as though he denied the main principle [of the one and only God]. And our Sages of blessed memory said, too (D'varim Rabbah v 10): Evil gossip kills three: the one who tells it, the one who accepts it, and the one about whom it is told. But the one who accepts it is affected more than one who tells it. There are certain matters that constitute a "shade" of evil gossip. For example, "If only someone would tell so-and-so that he should always be as he is now"; or one says, "Do not talk about so-and-so. I don't want to tell what happened with him." So also if one speaks well of another person before someone who hates him, because that makes that person speak in disparagement of him. So too if someone speaks evil gossip by way of a joke. And so likewise if it is told in a way of guile and deceit, as if he does not know that this matter is evil gossip. It is all one whether a person tells evil gossip in the other's presence or in his absence. So too, if a person tells things that cause [trouble] if they are conveyed from one man to another, harming his fellow-man physically or through his possessions, or even [merely] distressing or frightening him -- and there is no need to add, if one informs on his fellow-man before a government officer and this causes him to take the other's items of monetary value. It is as though he killed him and the wife and children who depend on him. For he is an informer [in effect]. Purgatory will finish, and he will not be finished [with his punishment]. (See the volumes Hafetz Hayyim and Sh'mirath haLashon on the enormity of this crime of evil gossip, and its punishment.)

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LEV517 Do not be a talebearer. Do not spread negative things that one person says about another. Do not go and tell someone a negative statement that somebody said about him unless relating the statement will quell an argument between the two or will prevent harm. Hashem wants only good for us, so He commands us to refrain from talebearing to help us to live in peace with one another, for talebearing leads to strife and arguments.

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LEV554 Hatred and vengeance are also very difficult to escape, since one's heart is very easily enticed [by them]. A person is very sensitive to his humiliation and feels extreme anguish. [Under these conditions] vengeance becomes as sweet as honey since it is his only respite. Therefore, if he finds the strength to flee the urgings of his nature and to override his own feelings so as not to hate the one who has evoked the hatred within him, and he neither takes revenge when the opportunity arises nor bears a grudge, but instead he disregards all this and removes it from his heart as if it had never existed, there goes a strong and courageous individual. This is something which is easy only for the ministering angels, among whom the aforementioned traits do not exist, but not for dwellers of the physical world who were formed from the earth. Nonetheless, it is the King's decree, and the verses are clearly spelled out and need no elucidation [this and following verse]: "You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must not take revenge, nor harbor a grudge against the members of your people." Concerning vengeance and bearing a grudge, we know that vengeance means refraining from acting kindly toward someone who has denied him kindness or has actually harmed him. And bearing a grudge means that while repaying a harmful deed with a good deed, one reminds the other party of the harm that he committed.

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