Lesson #64: Lose Your Job
Sometime after firing an employee, the boss approaches another employee, who, he knows, is a close friend of the one whom he dismissed.
“He was very, very upset at me for firing him,” the boss says, “and I imagine that he’s out there badmouthing me, telling people all kinds of terrible things about me, and making up stories. I want you to tell me what he’s saying.”
“Actually,” the employee says, “although he was very upset, he is very careful when it comes to the laws of Lashon Ha’ra. He is not telling people anything about you.”
The boss returns a different day and says, “Come on! Even though he might normally be careful about Lashon Ha’ra – there is no way he’s keeping quiet now. I know how angry he was. I am sure he is talking about me. I want you to tell me what he’s saying – and if not, you’re going to end up like him!”
Even though this employee’s job is on the line, he is still not permitted to divulge to the boss what the fired employee has been saying about him. The prohibition of Rechilut forbids informing somebody of what another person is saying about him behind his back, and this prohibition may not be transgressed even for the sake of avoiding a considerable financial loss – even for the sake of protecting one’s job.
Moreover, even if the fired employee indeed was badmouthing the employer, the other employee was allowed to falsely report that he was not doing so. A well-known Halacha permits distorting the truth for the sake of maintaining peaceful relations between people. This is derived from the incident in which Hashem Himself reported to Abraham Abinu something that his wife, Sara, had said, and He made a slight change because she had spoken in a way which Abraham might have found somewhat insulting. Remarkably, this Halacha applies even in the case under discussion, where speaking falsely will not lead to reconciliation. By denying that the fired employee was talking about the boss, this employee was preventing some degree of additional animosity between the fired employee and the boss, at least for those moments. And this temporary prevention of heightened tensions is so precious that it warrants distorting the truth. Even though the tensions will remain, it is worth distorting the truth to avoid increasing those tensions.
This teaches us a vitally important lesson about how much Hashem cherishes peaceful relations between two Jews. Having a hand in even containing feelings of hostility, and preventing them from getting worse, is such a precious Misva. Hashem is pained, so-to-speak, by friction and hatred among His children. Anything we can do to prevent or even alleviate friction between Jews is more valuable in His eyes than we can ever imagine.