Lessons

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Aharon ben Liba

May he have a speedy refuah shelaimah

Lesson #53c

Please verbalize or
have in mind that you are studying this material as a merit for a specific
single and/or Jewish singles throughout the world.

Halachah

#1

Hating someone
based on loshon horah

1. I was told that a certain individual wants to cause me great
   harm.  I understand that I am not allowed to believe it but rather merely
   suspect that it might be true and take the necessary precautions to protect
   myself.  Am I allowed dislike this person based on my suspicions?

1. No you may not.  You must treat him like any other Jew and
   love him as you love yourself.  Only in regard to protecting yourself from
   damage are you permitted to suspect him.

#2

Causing harm based
on loshon horah

1. I heard that a neighbor of mine has been seen stealing.  I
   was thinking of sharing this information with my next door neighbor so
   that he may protect himself.  However, if I tell him, he’s likely to take
   matters into his own hands and harm the suspect.  Am I allowed to tell him
   under these circumstances?

1. No you may not.  Since you’re only allowed to suspect that
   he’s a thief, you are not allowed to cause him damage.  If telling your
   next door neighbor might cause the suspect undue damage, it is forbidden
   to tell him.

Aggadah

This section is
formatted as a conversation between Oded and Menaseh.   Oded is encouraging his
friend Menaseh to be more careful in guarding his tongue from evil speech.  The
thoughts in this section are primarily based on the sefer, Shmiras Haloshon.

Oded:  We were listing references in the Torah to
speech related sins.  We are up to Sefer Devarim.

Menaseh:  In Parshas Ki Saitzai The posuk states:
“When you go out and camp against your enemy and you should guard yourselves
from all evil matters.”  Our sages teach us that the Hebrew text “evil matters”
can also be read as “evil words”.  In other words, guard yourselves from
speaking evil words.

Oded:  Also, in Parshas Ki Saitzai the Torah discusses
the topic of motzie Shem Rah; one who gives a bad name to his wife by making
false accusations against her.

Menaseh:  The Torah commands us to remember what
happened to Miriam the Tzadaikes as a result of her speaking loshon Horah about
her brother Moshe.

Oded:  In Parshas Ki Savo the Torah lists 11 people
who are cursed.  One of the curses is directed at a person who hits his friend
in secrecy.  Rashi explains that this is referring to one who speaks loshon
horah.  Our sages teach us that all the curses were preceded by corresponding
blessings.  Therefore, one who guards himself against speaking loshon horah
will be blessed.  That concludes Sefer Devarim.

Menaseh:  I found this exercise very interesting.  I
think that we really only touched the surface with these references.

Oded:  You are correct.  There are few points that I
would like to first discuss with you and then we can elaborate a bit on each of
these references.

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Sources

Halachah

1) Sefer Chofetz Chaim Sec. 1 Chap. 6 Par.
11

2) Sefer Chofetz Chaim Sec. 1 Chap. 6 Be’er Mayim
Chaim 30

Agaddah

Sefer Shmiras Haloshon Section 2 Chap. 3