Good morning. Welcome back to Torah Tuesday. It is 11.45 a.m. on the east coast of the United States of America, and therefore our subject, as usual, will involve proper speech. The gift of speech given to the human being allows formation of ideas to be communicated clearly to others. It is a gift, and we should never abuse a gift. We should know that it sets us apart, but it also makes us subject to strict rules and responsible for using it properly.
Now, we’re wading through a daily study of Sefer Chafetz Chaim, the classic work on proper speech written by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan HaKohen. He is known as the Chafetz Chaim because of the name of his Sefer. The book, the Sefer, was brought from a Pasuk (verse): Mi ha'ish (Who is the man?). Mi ha'ish hechafetz chaim, who is the one who wants life. Chafetz: wants life; Chaim. Ohev yamim lir'ot tov, loves days to see good. Netzor leshoncha me'ra: Guard your tongue from speaking improperly.
The two major categories of speech are Lashon Hara and Rechilut. Lashon Hara means negative speech, or speech that causes harm, financial or otherwise, to another person. Rechilut is more what we call gossiping. When a person has information and spreads the word, going from door to door, from person to person, to let others know: “Did you hear? I know something you don’t know. I can’t believe such a person is guilty of such behavior.”
When it comes to the laws of Rechilut, many of them are identical to the laws of Lashon Hara. Today, Asara B'Tevet (Tenth of Tevet), as we read the laws of Rechilut in Sha'ar Vav, the sixth chapter, we see that the laws of Lashon Hara and the laws of Rechilut are similar in kind. If somebody violates these laws, especially on a regular basis, they are deemed to be a Rasha, a wicked person. And as the Torah tells us, you cannot believe a Rasha. Someone who is not keeping the laws of Torah is more liable to lie, trick, and cause harm with their mouth. Their malice, their malicious behavior, cannot be accepted. If a person transgresses Torah prohibitions intentionally, he can’t be believed.
Generally, when somebody says something negative about another person, it usually shows an intent to harm, an intent to get praise for themselves, or an intent to speak these words and to have a desired effect from them. That’s called having Kavanah. But what if a person is speaking mesiach lefi tumo—speaking in... in their simplicity? In other words, a person isn’t relating information intentionally. A person isn’t trying to reveal or put down another person through negative information. They just make a comment, and from that comment, the negative is revealed. That’s called mesiach lefi tumo.
When it comes to Lashon Hara, the first category of negative speech, which is harmful or hurtful speech, the rule is that mesiach lefi tumo shouldn’t be trusted any more than someone speaking with Kavanah. Here too, in Rechilut, if someone casually, seemingly unassumingly, or maybe innocently speaks Rechilut in the course of a conversation, we’re not permitted to believe it. If the speaker’s report can be understood in two ways—positively or negatively—we’re required by Jewish Torah law to take the favorable side.
One example brought down in the laws of Lashon Hara, which apply here as well, is this: A person comes to shul and isn’t known to the other people. Someone walks over and says, “How are you doing? How can I help you? Anything you need?” The man says, “I need something to eat.” The other person says, “Okay, go to Joe’s house. He always has something on the fire.” Now, how could you take that? The man is a glutton. The man is constantly eating again. The man finds no satisfaction—more, more, more—and therefore there’s always something cooking. Or the man is a tzaddik (righteous person). No matter who needs what, he’ll go out of his way to provide. So there’s always an opportunity to get food at that person’s house. One interpretation is belittling, one is debasing, and one is great praise.
Now, how do I know which one? How do I take it? You don’t. But you’re required by Jewish law to judge favorably. You’re required by the laws of speech to take it in the best way possible, ignore the potential for the negative to be true, and accept that the positive is true.
We discussed once what’s called devarim hanikarim, recognizable signs. We call them circumstantial proof, which may indicate that the report actually is true. So Chafetz Chaim says, “I know such a situation could arise, but there are five requirements a person must satisfy before that person can actually, in any way, shape, matter, or form, accept the Rechilut.” This applies even with devarim hanikarim, even when circumstantial proof is available and apparent.
What are the five? One: There’s no way the information can be interpreted favorably. I brought a case where something could be taken positively or somebody could be taken negatively. But if he says that somebody committed such a crime or engaged in such bad behavior that there’s no way to take it positively, that’s one—but it’s only one of five. The evidence you have must be directly related to the report. It has to be solid proof. That, maybe, you could say, might be number three. The listener—that means you or me—has to have firsthand knowledge of the evidence, not of what he said, but of the evidence itself being reliable. If you heard about the evidence from someone else but didn’t confirm it personally, you’re not allowed to rely on it.
Number four of the five conditions you must meet: Many times we’ve said a person cannot listen to the Rechilut for constructive purpose if there is no constructive purpose. Just to know, just to satisfy curiosity, just to be aware of something is not constructive. No matter how convincing the evidence may seem, if one heard the report accidentally with no positive attached to it, one has to reject it. Disregard it as fact.
And number five. After meeting the four conditions—that the information can only be taken negatively, the evidence has to be directly related to the report, the listener has firsthand knowledge that the evidence is true, and, as we’ve said so many times, you can listen to the news only for constructive purpose and there is a constructive purpose—after meeting those four conditions, one is permitted to accept information as fact and act upon it constructively.
However, here is a very important, very important point for today’s discussion. The person is not allowed to relate it to somebody else except for a constructive purpose. To'elet (constructive purpose), which has seven conditions, we’ve learned several times. Not his wife, not his parents, not his close friends. He cannot use the information, certainly, to harm somebody else.