LEV510 The Rabbis taught: Whence is it derived that if one pursues another to kill him, the second may be saved by [taking] the life of the first? From: "Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor" (Sanhedrin 73a)

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LEV505 One the essential principles of derech eretz is to help those who suffer. Rabbeinu Yonah writes (Shaarei Teshuvah 3:70): "We have been taught to attempt to help our acquaintances, to advise them and to assist them in their time of anguish, as it says, 'You shall not stand aside when mischief befalls your neighbor' [this verse]. If the Torah commands us to care for our neighbor's ox and sheep, then certainly we are obligated to care for him. If you have the ability to help him, either through advice or action, and you act as if you are not able to do so, your strength will be taken away; the punishment is proportional to the sin." Thus, Rabbeinu Yonah continues, it is necessary to appoint volunteers in every city who are willing to extend help to anyone who requires it. In Iggeres HaTeshuvah it is suggested that jovial and personable people should be appointed to make peace between Jews, as the verse says, "A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger" (Mishlei 15:1). David HaMelech prayed that his son Shlomo should have these qualities: "For he shall deliver the needy when he cries; the poor also, and he who has no helper. He will spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their souls from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight (Tehillim [Psalms-AJL] 72:12-14). The Rambam writes that a king of Israel must possess these qualities: "He must be giving and merciful to meek and great people alike. He must pursue their well-being, and he must respect the honor of even the smallest of the small" (Hilchos Melachim 2:6). Rabbeinu Yonah writes in Shaarei Teshuvah 3:13: "A man must seek the well-being of his nation and exert himself for the benefit of his fellow Jew, whether he be poor or wealthy. This is one of the most essential and stringent requirements."

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LEV512 See [[DEUT1110]] Deuteronomy 22:3 ignore GATES 245

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LEV516 Another area where a person would be obligated to reveal confidential information is a case in which refusing to divulge the information would cause harm to befall an individual. According to Jewish law (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 426:1), if an individual knows that people are plotting against a particular person and the person refuses to divulge that information, even if obtained confidentially, that person has violated the prohibition of standing by while a brother's blood has been spilled [this verse]. How much and how immediate must harm be in order to obligate a person to reveal a confidence is discussed by the modern decisors. ... The Chafetz Chaim (Sefer Shemirat Halashon, Hilchot Rechilut, chap. 9, examples 2 and 3) writes that when another person is about to enter a business partnership and you know information that the potential partner is untrustworthy and would ruin the other person financially, then you have an obligation to "gossip" and reveal the information, even if it was obtained in confidence, under the heading of "Thou shalt not stand by while thy brother's blood is being spilled" [this verse and see notes of the Chafetz Chaim were he discusses this]. Similarly, if two people are about to enter marriage and you possess information that were the potential spouse to know, he or she would end the marriage, you are obligated to tell the person. This is not a law granting permission to tell, but it is an obligation to reveal the information.

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LEV536 The Torah [this verse] prohibits a person from being a talebearer. Normally, we would think of this prohibition as one against gossip only. But since Proverbs (20:19) linked talebearing with telling secrets, the prohibition against revealing any information is derived from here. In defining the actual sin, one decisor (Sefer Mitzvot Gedolot, Negative Prohibition 9) lists revealing secrets as the main prohibition. If not the main sin, according to other commentaries, revealing secrets is certainly part of the prohibition of talebearing. Even when revealing secret information seems to be hurting no one, it is still prohibited in Judaism.

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LEV534 The most common misuse of speech, even among "observant" Jews, is lashon hara, a sin that has been so neglected in the past that the greatest decisor of the twentieth Century, Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaCohen, wrote an entire volume on this one sin and is universally known by name associated with the book, the Chafetz Chaim. Some of the excesses of the sin are outlined in earlier sources. The prohibition in the Torah [this verse] is actually against a talebearer. However, both in the Talmud and later commentaries (Ibn Ezra, commentary on this verse), the Hebrew term for talebearer, rachil, actually means a merchant. This merchant, however, uses information about people as his goods, picking up some hear and dropping off some there. Maimonides (Hilchot De'ot, chap. 7) describes the details of these laws at length and shows how serious this offense really is. For example, he points out (Hilchot De'ot 7:2) that a talebearer denies God's existence. Someone who speaks ill about others helps to destroy the world (Hilchot De'ot 7:2), and he who listens is deemed even more culpable than the speaker, since if no one would listen, this sin could not be committed (Hilchot De'ot 7:3). Even if one speaks well of a particular person, it could still be improper (Hilchot De'ot 7:4) based on a passage in the Talmud (Arachin 16a). Positive comments can easily lead to additional negative comments either about that person or about another person as a reaction to the positive statement. Similarly, even joking about a person, with no maliciousness intended, is forbidden (Hilchot De'ot 7:4), since this can easily lead to real lashon hara. In short, any kind of speech about individuals is forbidden since it is so easy to cross over the line and really sin. There is no question that, like any act, man can use speech either to make himself and God holy or to desecrate them both. This gift from God can either raise man above all other creatures or help him commit acts that make him no better and possibly worse than animals. By developing a true sensitivity to the specialness of speech, man can learn to maximize this unique gift for good.

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LEV525 Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile. Psalm 34:14. … The rabbis regarded [Genesis 3:5, in which the serpent openly accused God of harboring sentiments of jealousy] as history's first slanderous expression and used it as an illustration of the frightful consequences of slander. Adam and Eve were deprived of their immortality. The serpent was condemned to become an object of man's deep loathing (Tanchuma, Bereshit 8). The frequency with which the Bible denounces gossip and slander attest to the persistence of this habit in society. Gossip is motivated by malice, arrogance, love of mischief, idle garrulity, and boredom. People who would normally shrink from inflicting physical injury on anyone else may have no scruples about swinging poisonous verbal arrows at their fellow-men. The biblical injunction "Thou shall not go up and down as a talebearer among the people" [this verse] is a comprehensive prohibition of malicious calumny as well as idle tattling. Truth is no defense against the sin of talebearing. The second half of the verse which prohibits gossip reads as follows: "neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of the neighbor." This sequence is highly significant. It is a dire warning of the potentially deadly consequences of gossip. There is an additional biblical injunction relating primarily to malicious slander. "Thou shall not take up [or circulate] a false report" (Exodus 23:1). According to rabbinical interpretation, this injunction is mainly addressed to those who lend a willing ear to false rumors (Mechilta 196; Onkelos, Exodus 23:1). The nefariousness of gossip is enlarged upon in great detail in the Hagiographa. Talebearers create discord among friends (Proverbs 16:28). They destroy their neighbors (Proverbs 11:9). They readily reveal confidential secrets (Proverbs 11:13, 20:19). He who has slander on his tongue cannot be close to God (Psalms 15:1,3).

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LEV520 Individuals privy to a spicy bit of gossip, which is given confidentially to them, will seldom honor their promise to keep the news secret. Indeed, their breach of confidence is frequently committed with frivolous mischief. It is not that these talebearers are devoid of a sense of honor. It is only that they and their sources of information regard the request for confidentiality as a pro forma ritual which need not be taken seriously. An addicted spreader of gossip may not be guilty of a breach of confidence; nevertheless his conduct is highly unethical. Judaism is critical of talebearing, even if the tale is common knowledge, and such practice is severely condemned in the Bible [this verse]. In areas other than idle gossip, a breach of confidence is a major offense, potentially injurious to life and fortune. One who discloses the secret itinerary of an important official may expose him to the risk of an attack. Revelation of trade secrets may ruin a business. The same is true of many other situations in every walk of life. (Continued at [[DEUT1303]] Deuteronomy 23:24 lips BLOCH 76-7)

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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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