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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LEV519 In the Middle Ages, when the mail system expanded, Rabbenu Gershon (c. 960-1028, Germany) issued a decree prohibiting mail carriers and others from reading other people's mail lest they learn trade secrets or spread gossip, thus violating the prohibition of talebearing (this verse). According to the decree, violators would be subject to excommunication, even if they did not publicize the improperly read letter. He thus recognized privacy as an important value in its own right, apart from its importance in protecting people from harm. (Finkelstein (1924), 31, 171 ff. 18, 189. Encyclopedia Talmudit 7:153, nn. 877-904 at Herem d'Rabbenu Gershom (Hebrew), cites Ashkenazic and Sephardic codes and responsa that adapted and extended Rabenu Gershom's mail decree.

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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.

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LEV532 The demand to protect confidential matters applies not only to public authorities like judges but to private individuals as well. The Torah prohibits spreading not only falsehoods about other people (sheker, "lying") [this verse] but also true facts about someone else that they have no need to know--in other words, rekhilut (gossip) [Leviticus 19:16]. The Talmud takes this further, insisting that even if there is no harm intended or anticipated, a person may not reveal a private conversation to an outside party, unless the original speaker gives explicit permission to do so. B. Yoma 4b. This rule restricts the information shared even with a spouse. Indeed, in marriage one may and should keep some of one's own thoughts or actions to oneself, for despite the physical and emotional intimacy of the relationship, married people continue to need and deserve a degree of privacy. People clearly have the duty to inform their spouses about anything that will have an impact on their lives in the present or future, but when there are no such practical implications, spouses should not be told or reminded of past actions or of present or past thoughts that will only upset them. For that matter, as a general rule, spouses have no obligation to tell each other everything they have done or thought and, conversely, they do have the right to be downright uninterested in some aspects of the other's life. Some things, even in marriage, may and should remain private with the individual.

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LEV540 Who is a talebearer? One who loads himself with stories about others and goes from one to another and says, "Thus did so-and-so say," and "Thus and thus did I hear about that one." Even though what he tells is true, this kind of thing destroys the world. And we have been warned about this as it is written (this verse). And what is tale-bearing? One who reveals to another things that were said about him in secret.… be very careful concerning gossip for with this you shame yourself. For he who finds others unworthy is himself unworthy, and he does not speak in praise of anyone, and his way is to find people unworthy with the fault that he himself possesses. Kiddushin 70a. For this fault of his is constantly on his mind and when he gossips he expresses it with his mouth.… a gossip always seeks out the faults of people; he is like the flies who always rest on the dirty spot. If a man has boils, the flies will let the rest of the body go and sit on the boil. And thus it is with a gossip. He overlooks all the good in a man and speaks only of the evil. There is a story about a certain man who went with a wise man in the field, and they saw a corpse. The man said, "How putrid this corpse is." And the wise man said, "How white are its teeth." Thus the wise man rebuked his companion and said in effect, "Why must you speak about its blemish; speak of its excellence, for one should always speak in commendation of the world." Sefer Orhot Zaddikim--The Ways of the Righteous.

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