LEV533 The Hebrew word for gossip comes from the root rokhel, which means a peddler. Gossips spread news about people, just as peddlers hock their wares. Even though gossip, by definition, consists of truths about other people--or, at least, with the speaker thinks is true-- and even though the speaker tells of matters that do not in and of themselves degrade the person being described, nevertheless the Torah forbids spreading gossip: “Do not spread tales (lo talekh rakhil) among your people” (Leviticus 19:16). Unfortunately, the Torah is not clear about what it is prohibiting. What, then, is gossip, and how does it differ from ordinary conversations in which friends sometimes describe what other people are doing? The Mishnah identifies at least one aspect of gossip that is interdicted, and it quotes a verse from the Torah and another from the Book of Proverbs that uses the same Hebrew phrase (holekh rakhil) to make its point: “How do we know that when one of the judges leaves the court, he may not say [to the litigant who lost the case], “I voted to acquit you, but my fellow judges made you liable. What could I do, given that my colleagues outnumbered me?” On such speech the Torah says, “Do not spread tales among your people,” and the Bible says, “One who spreads tales reveals secrets [but a trustworthy soul keeps a confidence]” (Proverbs 11:13). -- Mishnah, Sanhedrin 3:7. Maimonides expands on this example when he offers a more general definition of gossip and describes its consequences: “One who spreads rumors about someone else violates the negative commandment, “Do not spread tales among your people” (Leviticus 19:16). And even though we do not whip a person who violates this negative commandment [despite the fact that flogging is the usual punishment for violating a negative commandment], nevertheless it is a great sin and causes the killing of many souls of Israel. Therefore, this part of the verse is juxtaposed to the next part, “Do not stand idly by the blood of your brother.” Go and learn from what happened to Do’eg the Adumean [whose disclosure of information to Saul led to the killing of eight-five innocent men and their wives and children: 1 Samuel 22, 23]. What is a talebearer? It is someone who claims things and goes from one person to another, saying: “This is what so-and-so said,” and “This is what I heard about so-and-so.” Even if it is true, such speech destroys the world. -- Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Law of Ethics (De’ot) 7:1-2. ... The lesson, then, is that one must beware what hearers will make of information about another person, even when it is true and even when the speaker intends no ill. This is especially true when in the company of people one does not know well, where the less said about other people, the better. The more one knows the listener, the more one can share about family and friends, and so normal conversation with such people is fine. Frictions often exist, though, even among family and friends, and so even in that context one must tailor one’s remarks to the listener in order to avoid bad consequences for the person described.