For example, that's greater than the law provides. Welcome back. Torah Tuesday continues. We spend a quarter of an hour, from 11.45 to noon, every Tuesday, B'ezrat Hashem (with God's help), discussing proper speech and the laws of improper speech called Lashon Hara (a negative statement). Lashon Hara is a harmful statement. It can cause financial loss, the breakup of an engagement, loss of a job, or not getting a job. That's called Lashon Hara. Lashon Hara is true; it's something that's actually a fact. So the Torah has forbidden us from using this wonderful gift called speech in such a fashion.
Yet there are times when what would otherwise be improper or negative speech is actually very, very helpful and, in fact, constructive. A person is not honest. He's been giving a position, handling somebody else's money. If the person hiring him knew, they would either put things in place to protect themselves or might not hire him. Somebody is planning to marry someone who has some type of flaw or defect that would impact the marriage negatively. And if the person would know, they might not marry them. Well, they make adjustments. It's constructive that they know, and so on and so forth.
There are times when knowledge of negative information, knowledge of harmful information, is called l'to'elet. It's for a constructive purpose. So the Chafetz Chaim, in the Sefer Chafetz Chaim, broke down seven conditions that are necessary before a person can speak even l'to'elet, even for a constructive purpose. If they cannot fulfill all seven of these conditions simultaneously—well, I mean at once, they now have all of them in their bag—then they can't speak even for a constructive purpose. I've mentioned it, and I mention it all the time, and people say, “What are the seven? What are the seven? What are the seven?” Not now, not now—but today is now. Today we're going to list the seven requirements for constructive speech, l'to'elet, that would permit a person to relay negative or otherwise harmful information, which would be categorized as Lashon Hara, but the constructive person overrides it and allows you to speak it.
Number one: You hear something; you must be absolutely certain the information is accurate. Sometimes you witness it yourself, and it is a negative situation and negative information. But if you've seen it with your own eyes, and you have a clear picture of what went on, that's called, you know. But sometimes you hear from somebody else, and you have to investigate that report. You have to find out whether that report is accurate. If one has secondhand negative information and wants to relay it, and he wants to construct a purpose, you've got to work on that as well. The first requirement is that you have to be sure it's accurate. And you must make it clear to the person you're speaking to that you didn't see it, but heard it or were told.
Number two: One must think the matter through and be sure that a wrong has actually been committed. Sometimes a person may think that something is wrong, when in fact, halakha (Jewish law) permits it. There are many heterim (leniencies) that you're not aware of. So you say, “Oh, this man is not being called to halakha; this man is doing it.” No, he's not doing wrong. It may not be what you would do. It may not be nice, but it could be permitted. So one must be certain that the information and one's interpretation of it are correct before the information can be related.
Number three: One must first, though sometimes it's difficult, approach the wrongdoer and try to convince them to stop what they're doing and make amends for what they've already done. You have to try to persuade the subject of your speech, the subject of your information, to mend their ways. For example, a storekeeper was seen cheating a customer in some way. The first corrective measure you could take is to speak to the storekeeper and try to persuade them—to convince them to return the amount of money they might have cheated, or to give the better quality that they promised this item was. Only after this fails, only after this is unsuccessful, should one consider informing the victim.
Number four, and usually when you have juicy information, this is also very difficult: One is not permitted under any circumstances to exaggerate in any way. This can be especially difficult when relating information regarding an emotional issue. Okay, that's four. We said seven. Here comes number five.
Number five is not hard to achieve if you have your head on straight, but sometimes requires a little self-analysis. What is that? The intention must be solely to help the person who is being victimized. If the speaker, the one speaking this Lashon Hara, which he or she claims is l'to'elet, has any ill will toward the person who's the subject of the report, then they're not permitted to relate it, even for a constructive reason. Oh, just by the way, Shalom B'Yisrael means you're supposed to not have those type of feelings. A storekeeper wants to tell a potential customer about a competitor's shortcomings or reasons not to shop there, or about what happened to him when he went into that store: what he was given when he was promised something else. But in the back of his mind he's thinking, “Listen, if he sees what kind of guy that guy is, then the person may, just may, just might, become my customer.” So I'm not telling it really for the sake of the victim. I have an interest as well.
Number six: You have to think clearly, and you have to weigh all the facts. If one can effect the same result, the same repair, the same constructive purpose, without speaking Lashon Hara, then you must use the alternate option. If one wants to warn a friend not to shop in a certain store because of the proprietor or the proprietor's dishonesty, but there's a way to convince that friend to shop elsewhere, you could say, “Look, I always buy the same items in this store. Why do you go there?” “Well, they have free parking in the back.” “Oh, looking for parking is a big deal.” Or he says, “I go there; I'm always happy with the pricing. I've never felt that somebody else offered it for better prices.” And now you sell them on an alternative method of acquiring what they could get from this person who's dishonest, and that will cause them to stop. Or, “I'm going there anyhow; come, I'll drive you.” After shopping there, I know I'll convince them not to go back to the other guy. There was an alternate way to stop the person and protect them from being cheated again or harmed in any way by the dishonest proprietor. I didn't speak Lashon Hara. I just convinced them to shop somewhere else.
Now, generally, halakha has penalties and fines, but there are limitations on what the punishment should be. This is very difficult and sometimes might require you to involve the opinion of a Rav, clergy, a religious leader, or a teacher. You have to be sure that you want to be allowed to convey this information. You're not allowed if it will result in a penalty to the one you're speaking about. We don't want him to go out of business because he overcharges a few pennies. We want to make sure the customers don't pay those pennies. We want to leave him in business. We want to correct his ways so that they could shop there, or change where they shop so that he can't cheat them. Not something far and beyond what halakha provides.
So Baruch Hashem (Blessed is God), you now have heard all seven in one place in one class. Number one, be absolutely certain the information is accurate. Number two, one must think the matter through to make sure a wrong has been committed. Number three, you must approach the wrongdoer and attempt to let them make amends. Number four, you're not permitted to exaggerate. Number five, it must be solely to help the victim, not for any personal gain or hard feelings you might have in advance of the situation. And if you can effect the same result without speaking Lashon Hara, please take that route. And last but not least, you may not convey information if the resulting damage to the one who spoke, the one who cheated, or the one who was not perfect in their life would be more than the halakha allows.