Lesson #14: Firsthand Information
If a person sees his fellow regularly act in a way which is clearly forbidden – such as if he sees someone who had a religious upbringing driving on Shabbat every week – then he is permitted to inform people about that fellow’s conduct, but only if all four of the following conditions are met:
1) The person saw the wrongdoing firsthand, and did not just hear about it.
2) The person reports precisely what he saw, and no more, without even the slightest exaggeration.
3) His intention is purely Le’Shem Shamayim – sincerely for the sake of G-d, out of a genuine desire to help the person improve his behavior. If the speaker has any other motivation in mind when reporting this information, then he is not permitted to do so.
4) He does not speak to the fellow in a flattering manner, as though he is his best friend, and then go report his wrongdoing to others.
I thought of a Siman (pneumonic) to remember these four conditions: “First exaggerate with intent to flatter.” “First” refers to firsthand knowledge, as opposed to hearsay; “exaggerate” refers to the need to report precisely what one saw, without any exaggeration; “with intent” – the speaker’s intention must be pristinely pure; “to flatter” – he may not flatter the sinner.
Let us take an example of an employer who is considering hiring somebody, and one of his current employees knows that this candidate for the job is a flagrant, public Shabbat violator. Knowing that having such a person on staff will hurt the institution, the employee approaches his boss and informs him that he witnesses this candidate drive around the neighborhood on Shabbat each week. This is permissible, because he meets all four conditions – he witnessed the misconduct firsthand, he does not exaggerate, his intention is purely for the sake of the institution, and he does not flatter the violator. But what about the boss? Is he allowed to believe the report?
Halacha does not allow the boss to confidently believe the report until it is conclusively verified, though he may suspect that it might be true so he can protect his enterprise. So long as he has only heard reports about this person, he may not determine with certainty that they are true. Once the reports have been verified, then he may believe what he heard, and, moreover, when he hears other negative reports about that person, he does not have to give him the benefit of the doubt, as he can assume that just as this person has fallen in one area, he is likely to fall in other areas, as well.
Young people generally say, “Don’t believe everything you hear.” As we get older, however, and we have more life experience, we change this saying to, “Don’t believe anything you hear.” We cannot fully believe anything we hear unless the information has been fully verified. Until then, every one of our fellow Jews is innocent until proven guilty.