Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Chafetz Chaim Daily, Nishmat Yosef ben Avram. Today's title is The Transfer.
The Chafetz Chaim brings down something fascinating in Sefer Shemirat Halashon from the Rishonim, Chovot HaLevavot, Orchot Tzadikim, and Sefer Maggid Meisharim, which was written by Rabbi Yosef Karo, the Shulchan Aruch himself. He learned with a Malach, an angel, almost every single night, and wrote down everything. It's called Sefer Maggid Meisharim. And they said a very, very interesting concept that happens when one speaks Lashon Hara (evil speech). Now listen to every word I'm telling you, because I'm reading word for word from the words of the Rishonim. When one speaks Lashon Hara about another person, all the mitzvot (commandments) he has done his whole life transfer to the person he spoke Lashon Hara against. Which means, let's say Reuven speaks Lashon Hara against Moshe, Reuven gets all the mitzvot that Reuven ever did his whole life. And they go on. And Moshe's Averot (sins) go to Reuven, which means when Reuven speaks Lashon Hara against Moshe, Moshe gets all of Reuven's mitzvot, and Reuven gains all of Moshe's Averot that he did his whole life.
Now, this is something very scary, because we're recording you here, Rishonim. This is Rishonim, one of our main commentators that we have. And the Chafetz Chaim brings us down to Shemirat Halashon. This is something to take very, very, very seriously. What we just learned is that when one speaks Lashon Hara about another person, the person he speaks against takes all his mitzvot, and then you take all the Averot of the person you spoke Lashon Hara against. That is serious, serious stuff and pretty scary.
But I want to share with you a Chiddush (novel insight) from Rav Tzadka Shlita (may he live long), the Rosh Yeshiva of Porat Yosef, and this is a Yadua (known) thing. When the Chafetz Chaim brings this down, that your mitzvot are transferred to the person you spoke against, and his Averot, his sins, are transferred to the person who spoke Lashon Hara, this only happens to a Baal Lashon Hara. A Baal Lashon Hara is a person that never stops speaking Lashon Hara constantly and doesn't want to change, doesn't want to grow, and doesn't really see a problem with it anymore. He got used to it. It became like a natural thing to that person to just speak Lashon Hara. There's almost like no guilty feeling.
But a person who tries to take upon himself not to speak Lashon Hara—and that's to all the listeners over here—a person who tries not to speak Lashon Hara against his friend, and then takes all the Averot of the person he spoke against and wants to change and grow, is not a Baal Lashon Hara. So this rule does not apply to a person who wants to stop speaking Lashon Hara. However, it is something to consider very seriously. Your mitzvot can be transferred to the person you're speaking Lashon Hara against.