LEVITICUS | 19:17  hate — LEV566  The harm caused by rechilus [(In Hebrew, ר...
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
			LEV566  The harm caused by rechilus [(In Hebrew, רכילות, i.e., gossipmongering.  For lack of a better word, we have translated רוכל as gossipmongering.  A רוכל is one who spreads information that causes ill will and hatred (See Chafetz Chaim, Hilchos Rechilus 1:2-3)] cannot be calculated – it is inestimable – for it increases hatred within the world and causes people to violate what is written in the Torah [this verse], "You must not hate your brother in your heart." The world subsists on peace, and because of hatred the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve [into nothingness][Tehillim 75:4; See also Avos 1:18], as we have already prefaced] (See paragraph 39).  Often the gossipmonger places a sword in his fellowman's hand to kill another, as the pesukim state (Yechezkel 22:9), "Gossipmongering men were among you, to shed blood," and (Yirmeyahu 6:28), "They are all the greatest of rebels, gossipmongers; [like weapons of] brass and iron, they all destroy." Our sages (Yerushalmi Pe'ah 1:1) called rechilus "three-tongue," [This is what it was called in Eretz Yisrael (Arachin 15b)], since it kills three people: the speaker, the one who accepts it, and the one spoken about, as you know from the episode of Do'eg, who was cast out as a result of [speaking] it (He lost his share in the World to Come) (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:2; Tehillim 52:7); the Kohanim [of Nov] were killed; and Shaul was punished for accepting it (He died in battle (I Shmuel 31:6; see Shemiras Halashon, Sha'ar Hazechirah 4).)  
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
       
        | Source Key | GATES | 
| Verse | 19:17 | 
| Keyword(s) | hate | 
| Source Page(s) | 427-8 |