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Lesson #78c

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

Unintentional
Rechilus

#1

1. Is it considered rechilus if I have no intention of
   stirring up hatred with my words?

1. If your words bring hatred onto another Jew, even if that isn’t
   your intention, you are violating the prohibition of speaking rechilus.

#2

1. A friend of mine was admonishing me for portraying her in
   a certain light.  I defended myself by saying that I don’t think that what
   I said was wrong since my teacher said the same thing.  I’m wondering if
   that’s a violation of rechilus.  I’m obviously not telling her that my
   teacher did anything wrong since I’m in agreement with my teacher about
   this matter.

1. The fact that you agree with your teacher is irrelevant.  If
   you are causing your friend to have hatred towards your teacher for what
   she said, it would still be considered rechilus.

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:  The posuk in Parshas Vayaishev tells us: “And
he brought negative reports about them to his father”.  Do you know the nature
of these reports?

Menaseh:  I believe that he reported 3 things. 1)
They called the brothers who were the sons of the maids’ slaves.  2) They were
suspect of having immoral relations. 3) They were suspect of eating from an
animal without first slaughtering it.

Oded:  The torah tells us that he didn’t tell this to
anyone else besides his father.  His intention was certainly so that his father
should rebuke them, yet he was still held accountable.

Menaseh:  If his intentions were noble, why was he
held accountable?

Oded:  Because he should have first rebuked them
himself.  Perhaps they would have shown Yosef that he was mistaken.  For all
these accusations Yosef was punished measure for measure.

Menaseh:  How so?

Oded:  On that which he accused his brothers of
calling their brothers slaves, Yosef himself was sold as a slave.  On that
which he suspected them of immoral relations, Yosef himself was suspected of
that with the wife of Potifar by all of Egypt.  On that which he suspected them
of eating animals without first slaughtering them, the Torah relates that they
indeed slaughtered the animal first when they covered up for what they did to
Yosef.

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Sources

Halachah

¹ Sefer Chofetz Chaim Sec. 2 Chap. 1 Par. 3

² Sefer Chofetz Chaim Sec. 2 Chap. 1 Par. 3

Agaddah

Sefer Shmiras Haloshon Section 2 Chap.11