LEV603 All Jews are responsible for each other (Babylonian Talmud, Shavu’ot 39a). Hillel says: “Do not separate yourself from the community” (Mishnah, Pirkei Avot 2:4). The thick sense of community that is articulated in these sources, where every Jew is responsible for one another and may not separate himself or herself from the community, where one is to see one's fellow Jew as a member of one's extended family, has many implications. As the last chapter indicates, it is this strong communal sense that is one of the rationales for providing for the Jewish poor. It is also a key element in the Talmud’s requirement to establish schools to educate everyone's children. “Rabbi Judah said in the name of Rav: “Rabbi Joshua ben Gamla should be remembered for good, for had it not been for him the Torah would have been forgotten in Israel. For at first, the boy who had a father was taught Torah by him, while the boy who had no father did not learn. Later, they appointed teachers of boys in Jerusalem, and the boys who had fathers were brought by them [to the teachers] and were taught; those who had no fathers were still not brought. Then they ordered that teachers should be appointed in every district, and they brought to them lads of the age of sixteen or seventeen. And when the teacher was cross with any of the lads, the lad would kick at him and run away. So then Rabbi Joshua ben Gamla ordered that teachers should be appointed in every district and in every city and that the boys should be sent to them at the age of six or seven years” (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 21a ). As discussed in chapter 2, this thick sense of community is also the basis for making each of us responsible for rebuking others when they have done something wrong, thus doing one's part to ensure that the community is a just one. “Do not hate your brother in your heart. Reprove your kinsman so that you do not bear a sin with regard to him (Leviticus 19:17). “Whoever is able to protest against the wrongdoings of his family and fails to do so is punished for the family's wrongdoings. Whoever is able to protest against the wrongdoings of his fellow citizens and does not do so is punished for the wrongdoings of the people of his city. Whoever is able to protest against the wrongdoings of the world and does not do so is punished for the wrongdoings of the world (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 54b).

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LEV613 The respect demanded by the Jewish tradition for each and every human being does not mean that we must accept everything that anyone does. After all, the Torah is filled with laws that categorize certain forms of human behavior as prohibited and others as required, and if Jews fail to abide by those laws, the Torah demands, “Reprove your kinsman and no guilt because of him” (Leviticus 19:17). But that reproof must be given in private so as not to disgrace the person in public, and it must be done constructively and with respect for the ultimate human dignity inherent in each of us. The Torah applies this even to someone who is to be flogged for violating a negative commandment: “He may be given forty lashes, but not more, lest being flogged further, to excess, your brother be degraded before your eyes” (Deuteronomy 25:3). Certainly, then, in everyday speech we must respect the dignity of each person by avoiding defamatory speech, even if the negative information is true, and all the more if it is false. When, though, may one say something negative about someone else? Indeed, when should one do so? One may share negative information with someone else--and one should do so--when the hearer will be making practical decisions based on that information. If, for example, A has asked you to write a letter of recommendation for him or her to be sent to B, a potential employer, you have a duty to be honest about A’s qualifications for the job as you see them. … (Continued at [[DEUT623]] Deuteronomy 13:7 entices DORFFWITO 84-5)

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LEV607 See [[EXOD377]] Exodus 20:7 clear DUTIES 725-7

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LEV606 See [[DEUT1727]] Deuteronomy 33:21 executed DUTIES 871-3

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LEV614 The twentieth principle (of repentance) is doing whatever one can to return the many from sin, as the pasuk says (Yechezkel 18:30), "Repent and bring [others] back from all your iniquities" -- from here we learn that this is one of the principles of repentance. The pasuk also says [this verse] "Reprove your fellowman, and do not bear a sin because of him" -- from here we see that if he does not reprove the other person, he will be punished for his [own] sins (by not rebuking others, his repentance for his own sins will be lacking, and he will be punished (Kanfei Yonah). And David [HaMelech], a"h, said in the psalm [that is the foundation for the principles] of repentance (Tehillim 51:15): "I will teach the iniquitous Your ways, and sinners will return to You."

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LEV601 [This verse]. However, when the matter is clear to all – – it is known, tested, and investigated--that the sinner hates rebuke and will not listen to the voice of his instructors, nor turn an ear to his teachers, concerning this the pasuk says (Mishlei 9:8), "Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you." Our Sages said (Yevamos 65b), "Just as it is a mitzvah to say what is listened to, so it is a mitzvah to not say what is not listened to," (Beitzah 30a), "Better that they be unintentional [sinners], than willful ones" (By rebuking him, he will only cause him to sin more. See Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 608:2 for the conditions to this exemption).

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LEV599 "Reprove your fellowman, and do not bear a sin because of him" [this verse]. We have herein been admonished not to bear sin as a result of our neighbors' sinning, by failing to reprove them. If one person sins, once his sin becomes public knowledge the entire congregation is punished because of him, if they fail to reprove him with the rod of their chastisement (Mishlei 22:15). Similarly, the pasuk states (Yehoshua 22:20), "Did not Achan the son of Zerach commit a sacrilege regarding the consecrated item, and wrath fell upon the entire assembly of Yisrael, and that man was not the only one to perish for his sin?" The pasuk also says (Devarim 29:28), "The exposed sins are ours and our children's forever." Even the nations of the world said (Yonah 1:7), "...that we may know on whose account this disaster is happening to us"; how much more does this obligate Yisrael, who are collectively responsible for each other! (See Sanhedrin 27b). In order to be saved from the punishment associated with this [sin], it is fitting to select men of truth and look for men of valor from the entire populace, in order to place them as the overall supervisors in every marketplace and living quarter -- to oversee their neighbors, reprimand them for any act of iniquity, and eradicate the evil.

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LEV611 The first category [of flatterers] is [one] who recognizes or sees or knows that his fellowman's hand is [tainted] with iniquity and that he embraces deceit (Yirmeyahu 8:5), or that he sins through lashon hara or verbal abuse – – but smooth-talks him with an evil tongue and says, 'You have committed no wrong." Not only has the flatterer committed the transgression of withholding reproof, as [this verse] says ... but he further sins by saying, "You have not sinned, as the pasuk says (Yirmeyahu 23:14), "They have strengthened the hands of evildoers." This is a serious transgression (Iyov 31:28) in the hand of the foolish flatterer; for he is not a zealous for the truth, but abets falsehood, declaring evil to be good and making light into darkness. He also places a pitfall before the sinner from two vantage points: firstly -- [as a result of this] the sinner does not regret his evil; secondly -- he repeats his foolishness the next day since the wicked flatterer has praised him and his heart's desire (Tehillim 10:3; I.e., has praised him for doing whatever he wants). Besides this, he will bear punishment for the harm he caused to the person whom the sinner wronged, by justifying the one who sinned against him; and aside from that, he will be punished for [his] false words, as the pesukim says, "You will destroy speakers of deceit" (Tehillim 5:7), and "One who justifies an evildoer and who condemns a righteous person -- both are an abomination of Hashem" (Mishlei 17:15). This applies even more so if the iniquity of his fellowman is public knowledge; for when the flatterer says to him before others, "You are pure, without iniquity," he has desecrated and demeaned both the law and justice. (Continued at [[DEUT15]] Deuteronomy 1:17 afraid GATES 375).

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LEV604 Private reproof of a peer and social protest are complex and even potentially dangerous--although valuable--types of speech. The Talmud takes the Torah's command to "Reprove your kinsman" [this verse] as the source for the notion that one must reprove a peer who is observed doing something unseemly (B. Arakhin 16b). Maimonides interprets this precept to mean that one who sees his peers sinning, or following "a path that is not good," must bring him back to the good and inform him that he is sinning (M.T. Laws of Ethics 6:7). [This verse] closes with the admonition "but incur no guilt because of him," which the Talmud interprets to mean that one must not reprove a person in a manner that causes "his face to change," that is, humiliate him, as evidenced through his changed facial complexion (B. Arakhin 16b). Maimonides takes this command a step further in ibid. 6:8, where he rules that it is forbidden to "humiliate a [fellow] Jew, and all the more so in public." Such humiliation is a "great sin" although it cannot be punished by a human court. A person must reprove another in private with gentle words, letting him know that the reproof is only for his own good (ibid. 6:7). (By Alyssa M. Gray, "Jewish Ethics of Speech")

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LEV602 [Verbal abuse is objectionable] even when it relates to a mitzvah, for Scripture states [this verse]: "Continually reprove your fellowman" – and our Sages of blessed memory commented (Arachin 16b): "Even if his face changes color? Therefore it states [this verse]: 'but do not bring a sin upon yourself [when reproving] him.'" From all of the above you can see how far–reaching this prohibition is and how harsh is its punishment.

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