And those things are being done. Good morning again. The 11.45 Torah Tuesday session on Sefer Chafetz Chaim is about proper speech and the laws of proper speech. It’s not an option. Chafetz Chaim gives us something that we were studying before in Mesillat Yesharim: there’s a time to do and a time to hold back, even if it’s a mitzvah (commandment). And he comes up with one. Today, in the daily three-time-a-year completion of the Sefer cycle, it’s the Laws of Lashon Hara (a negative statement), Kelal Dalet, which is the fourth chapter, Halacha (Jewish law) 7. He comes to teach us that a certain level of wickedness a person could reach may not only allow Lashon Hara to be spoken about that person, but may require Lashon Hara to be spoken about.
“Well, the guy’s a Rasha (wicked person), I want to tell you,” said Rasha. The guy drives a car on Shabbat, and he’s not Hatzalah, I want to tell you. He eats Taref (non-kosher food) on a regular basis. We told him about Kosher (ritually fit). We gave him a list of all Kosher places. He won’t go there, said Rasha. Now, may I speak about him or not? He was raised in a religious atmosphere, so we have to assume that he’s not a person who doesn’t know. Could be he doesn’t know. But he has, as they say, Porek Ol. He cast off the yoke of heaven. He just doesn’t keep mitzvot, especially the negatives that require him to control his base desires.
Now, whether the person shamelessly sins in public or just refuses to follow the summonses of a Kosher Beit Din (rabbinical court), we see that it’s not a temporary lapse. It’s not a one-time mistake. It’s not one time being overcome by Yetzer Hara (evil inclination). It’s a pattern. It’s a shita, we call it. It’s a way of life. The Chafetz Chaim says, without a doubt, that with such a person you are clearly allowed to repeat themselves, the wrongdoings, in front of him and behind his back. It doesn’t matter. So what’s the reasoning for that? Why would I allow publicizing somebody else’s sinfulness?
The reasoning is that if we allow an evil person to continue unchecked, and he lives with us, and we don’t take a stand against his religious wickedness, it’s not being a tzaddik (righteous person). It’s foolish. Medically speaking, they know of a cancer, and they allow it to thrive rather than treat it. You know of a problem. This person is a Rasha. He’s going to try to get others to join him. He’s going to reduce our sensitivity. It’s a very important principle, by the way: reduce our sensitivity. People don’t realize that there’s a place where things are being done that are not Kosher, that are not al pi halacha (according to Jewish law), in front of that person. The person who sees it becomes desensitized.
The great rabbi in our community, Hacham Yosef Raful, used to walk with me, or I used to walk with him, so to speak, from Shaare Zion in the afternoon to Ateret Torah in the afternoon on Shabbat. We both had classes in one place and ate Seudah Shelishit (third Shabbat meal) together on the other side of town. And he would zig and zag. I once told him, “Rabbi, you walk up Avenue T to East 9th, you make a left, and you’re at Ateret Torah when you get to Quentin. What are you going back and forth?” He said, “I walk on the streets that have the least Chilul Shabbat (desecration of Shabbat).” Seeing Chilul Shabbat in Brooklyn, New York, on a regular Shabbat is almost impossible to avoid. But there are places where it’s more prevalent. There’s a standard ball game in the middle of the street. And there’s another block where they don’t play ball in the middle of the street. So why wouldn’t he care? Why would he care? He’s not playing. It’s not going to stop them from playing. But seeing it desensitizes.
So if you have a Rasha in your midst and he’s doing things, it’s like a cancer cell that affects everything around it. And he says, therefore, we have an obligation to publicize what this person is doing. Why would he take this uncompromising stand? Even if you’re not sure that he sinned this time, if that’s his pattern of behavior, you’re allowed to even assume he did it again.
Now, we’re not talking about a person who was deprived of a meaningful Jewish education. They call that an infant that was captured as an infant and grew up amongst, and now he acts like a goy (non-Jew). No, no. We’re talking about the children in our community who became adults in our community. They all went to religious schools. They learned berachot (blessings), and they learned halachot, and they learned kashrut (kosher laws), and they learned Shabbat. They learned holidays. And if they violate those laws, it’s considered almost intentional. And this is not a kidnapped individual.
In the bottom part of Chafetz Chaim, there’s a perush (commentary) he wrote on himself, or an enhancement of his laws. His laws are psakim (rulings) that are very brief. Some are longer than others. But basically, they don’t discuss the issues. They tell you the perush. They tell you the psak. They tell you the bottom line. He wrote a perush on his own book called Be’er Mayim Chayim. And there he explains that speaking against a defiant sinner is not Lashon Hara because you’re not out to denigrate him. You’re not out to belittle him. You’re not out to make him a Rasha. You’re out to prevent harm. You’re out to correct the behavior.
And one thing you should know: a permissiveness to allow Lashon Hara in certain circumstances requires certain basic ideas. A person cannot have ill feelings against the victim or the subject of his speech from before. Because then that personal animosity will make something bad become worse, or something doubtful become bad. But the permissibility of spreading it is limited if there’s any, any personal animosity involved. So you have to make sure that your intentions are honorable. If you hate him or you have something against him or he hurt you, then you have to be sure, you have to be sure to avoid speaking about that person even though their behavior is unacceptable.
David HaMelech, in a perek (chapter) speaking about shalom (peace), mentioned shalom twice. And then he says, va’aseh tov (and do good). He talks about good. Shalom is good. But he talks about shalom. I want shalom. I want to bring shalom. And then he says, tov v’chesed, I want to bring good. Peace, shalom, is the container for all blessings. It’s the greatest of all blessings. Beit Hashem (House of God). We seek peace, but we seek good. Now there are times when we must stand up for what’s right and speak out against those whose behavior threatens what we know to be right, which threatens the influence on others. And we can ensure that that will bring us to a Beit Hashem bimhera beyameinu (speedily in our days). Amen (so be it).