Parshas Kedoshim
“You may not go as a talebearer!” (Vayikra 19:16)
It is a negative commandment, that we have been forbidden to gossip, as it says “You may not go as a talebearer!”. The explanation of this is that if one hears a man saying bad things about his friend, one must not go to him and tell him that so and so is saying the following things about you, unless one intends by doing so to remove the damage which has been done and to calm down the quarrel.
Among the roots of the commandment is that Hashem wants only good for the people which He created, and He therefore commanded us not to gossip so that there would be peace between us, for tale bearing leads to quarrels and fights.
Chazal warned us many times about gossiping and its partner “Lashon Hara” (saying bad things about another). They said that it kills three people: the one who says it, the one who believes it, and the one about whom it was said, and the one who believes it receives the most severe punishment of them all. They also said that one who praises someone in front of that person’s enemy has also transgressed “Avak Lashon Hara” (causing the other person to say bad about another Jew).
This commandment applies in all places and at all times, to both men and women. Even if Beis Din do not give lashes for this sin, Hashem has many messengers to punish for it.
