Lessons

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Lesson #69

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Topic: Speaking loshon horah about a heretic

Halachah

#1

1. If someone tells me that a certain fellow is a heretic,
   may I then go and speak loshon horah about that fellow?

1. As with all loshon horah, you may not believe it but you
   may suspect until further verified.  Therefore, you may distance yourself
   from this fellow and you may even warn others to keep their distance until
   the matter is clarified.¹

#2

1. What about if I don’t have first hand knowledge that this
   fellow is a heretic but he is established in the city as a heretic?

1. If it is common knowledge that this person is a heretic,
   even if you don’t have first hand knowledge, you may consider him a
   heretic and speak loshon horah about him, freely.  However, if there is
   merely a rumor circulating about him that he is a heretic, that is not adequate
   grounds to consider him a heretic; hence you may not freely speak loshon
   horah about him.  You may however suspect and warn others as mentioned
   above.²

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:  Menaseh, I’d like to share with you some more
instances from where we can see the severity of strife.

Menaseh:  You have my attention.

Oded:  Strife can lead to the endangerment of life.

Menaseh:  From where do we see that?

Oded:  The Shepherds of Avraham and Lot got into a
quarrel, causing Lot to have to separate from Avraham and move to Sodom, where he almost got killed with the other inhabitants of Sodom.

Menaseh:  We also see in the Torah that strife can
lead to actual death.

Oded:  That was the next thing I wanted to share with
you.  Since you brought it up why don’t you continue.

Menaseh:  Sure.  The Torah discusses a situation
where 2 people are fighting and they accidentally hit a pregnant woman.  The
Torah then goes on to discuss what happens, regarding restitution, if the
pregnant woman gets killed.  What caused this pregnant woman to get killed?  It
was the fracas that these 2 people were engaged in.

Oded:  Very true.

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Sources

Halachah

¹ Sefer Chofetz Chaim Sec. 1 Chap. 8 Par. 6

² Sefer Chofetz Chaim Sec. 1 Chap. 8 Par. 6

Agaddah

Sefer Shmiras Haloshon Sha’ar Hazichira Chap 15 (quoted from
Sefer Maalos Hamidos)