Kommentar zu Wajikra 19:16

לא תלך רכיל THOU SHALT NOT GO ABOUT AS A TALE BEARER — I say that because all those who sow discord between people and all who speak slander go into their friends' houses in order to spy out what evil they can see there, or what evil they can hear there so that they may tell it in the streets —they are called הולכי רכיל which it the same as הולכי רגילה, "people who go about spying"; espiement in O. F. A proof of my statement is the fact that we do not find anywhere the term רגיל used in Scripture except in connection with the expression הלך "to go". Examples are: the phrase here, לא תלך רכיל; (Jeremiah 6:28) "[They are all] walking as spies: they are brass and iron". But as for any other expressions for “slander”, the verb הלך is not used with them. Examples are (Psalms 101:5) "whoso privily slandereth his neighbour”; (Psalms 120:2) "false tongue"; (Psalms 12:4) "the tongue that speaketh proud things (slander)". For this reason I say that this expression (הולך רכיל) means "going about ומרגל, and spying out” (רגל = רכל), because the כ may interchange with ,ג since all letters the pronounciation of which are of the same place in the organs of speech may interchange with each other e. g., בי"ת with גימ"ל ,פ"א with כ"ף or with נו"ן ;קו"ף with זי"ן ;למ"ד with צד"י. And in a similar sense we have, (II Samuel 19:28) "He spied against thy servant [to my lord]” which implies, "he spied me out with subtly in order to speak evil about me to my lord״ (and thus וירגל comes to mean "to slander”). Similar is (Psalms 15:8): לא רגל על לשונו which means, "he has not spied out in order to have evil on his tongue”. Similarly the רוכל, the trader, is one who goes round and searches for (spies out) all kinds of merchandise, and so also the seller of perfumes which women use to make themselves nice, because he constantly goes about in the villages, he is called רוכל, which has the same meaning as רוגל. And its translation in the Targum לא תיכול קורצין, has the same meaning as (Daniel 3:8) "and they slandered (אכלו קורציהון) the Jews”; and as (Berakhot 58a) "he slandered him (אכל ביה קורצא בי מלכא) to the king”. It seems to me that people had the custom to eat a little snack in the house of him who listened to their slanderous words, and this served as the final confirmation that his (the slanderer's) statements were well founded and that he would maintain the truth of them. This "snack” was called אכילת קורצין, the word קורצא being connected in meaning with the root קרץ in (Proverbs 6:13) "He winketh (קורץ) with his eyes”, for it is the manner of all who go about slandering to wink with their eyes and to suggest their slanderous statements by innuendos in order that others who happen to hear them should not understand them.

THOU SHALT NOT ‘THEILEICH RACHIL’ (GO UP AND DOWN AS A TALEBEARER) AMONG THY PEOPLE. “I say that because all those who sow discord [among brethren]⁶⁵See Proverbs 6:19. and speak slander go into their friends’ houses in order to spy out what evil they can see or hear, so that they may tell it in the street — therefore they are called holchei rachil or holchei regilah (‘those who go about spying’) etc. And so did Onkelos translate [the verse before us]: lo theichul kurtzin [literally: ‘thou shalt not eat kurtzin’, which has the same meaning as], ‘va’achalu kartzeihon’ (and they brought accusation against) the Jews;⁶⁶Daniel 3:8. ‘achlu kurtza (they slandered him) to the king.’⁶⁷Berachoth 58 a. It appears to me that it was their custom to eat something in the house of him who accepted their slanderous words, this being a sort of final confirmation that the slanderer’s words are well-founded, and that he would stand by them. It was this snack that was called ‘the eating of kurtzin,’ [the word being associated with] the [Hebrew] expression, ‘koreitz’ (he that winketh) with his eyes,⁶⁸Proverbs 6:13. for such is the manner of all who go about slandering, to wink with their eyes, and to insinuate slanderous matters in order that [others who happen to] hear them should not understand them.” All this is the language of the Rabbi [Rashi].
But his explanation of this rendition of Onkelos has neither rhyme nor reason.⁶⁹See in Volume I, p. 100, for a similar remark. For one who listens to a slanderer does not swear to him that he will believe his words, and [therefore the slanderer] need not give him a sign or token [to believe him]! Even when one slanders a servant to his master,⁷⁰See Proverbs 30:10: Slander not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty. Ramban’s intention is therefore as follows: Even in slandering a slave, where the slanderer runs the risk of incurring his curse, the master nonetheless gives the slanderer no assurance that he will listen to him, and so what sense is there to this “eating” on the part of the slanderer which Rashi mentioned? the master does not assure him that he will listen to him, and so what sense is there to this “eating” [by the slanderer, as Rashi mentioned]? And Nebuchadnezzar did what he decided to do on the basis of his own decision about the righteous ones,⁷¹This refers back to the proof Rashi mentioned above from the Book of Daniel 3:8, where it is said ‘va’achalu kartzeihon’ of the Jews, and it is told that certain slanderers came and informed Nebuchadnezzar that Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were not bowing to his image of gold. As a result he called them and asked them if it was true. When they told him that they had no intention ever of bowing to his image of gold, he had them thrown into a burning furnace. But when they were saved by an act of G-d from the fiery furnace, the king had it proclaimed that no one must henceforth speak against the G-d of these righteous ones. — Ramban now points out that when accepting the words of the slanderers, we find no reference to the king’s offering them any food, a custom which Rashi mentioned as having been the basis for this expression va’achalu kartzeihon. Furthermore, as is evidenced from the story, he did not even believe them at first, for he called Hananiah etc. and asked about it. And yet Scripture says ‘va’achalu kartzeihon’ of the Jews, which shows that this whole interpretation of Rashi in Onkelos’ translation of the verse is not borne out by Scripture. and He did not offer food to the slanderers [to establish the veracity of their report], neither did he swear to them [that he would believe them], nor did he in fact believe them. Instead, he asked [of the righteous ones], Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego etc.,⁷²Daniel 3:14. Shadrach, Meshach, etc. were the Babylonian names that the chief of officers gave to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (ibid., 1:7). and he commanded that if henceforth they were to bow to the image of gold that he had made, he would forgive them for their transgressions in the past! [All this shows that va’achalu kartzeihon does not refer to a meal eaten by the slanderers, to serve as the final confirmation that their slander was well-grounded, since in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, where this expression occurs, the king did not accept their report!] Nor did King Darius offer food to the slanderers of Daniel,⁷³Ibid., 6:12-14. except for the wormwood and the gall,⁷⁴Lamentations 3:19. In other words, he had the slanderers thrown into the lions’ den (Daniel 6:25.). and yet it is written of them, those men that ‘achalu kartzohi’ of Daniel!⁷⁵In other words, in the same verse where their punishment is mentioned (ibid.,) it refers to them as those men that ‘achalu kartzohi’ of Daniel, which shows that it was not a meal that the king offered them, but quite the contrary. And even if it is true that it was so done in those [later] times, but since Scripture states thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people, why should Onkelos have mentioned this foolish custom [of the slanderer eating a little snack in the house of him who listened to his slanderous words], when it does not affect the admonition itself? Instead, the essential meaning of the Aramaic expression here [i.e., lo theichul kurtzin, is not a prohibition against “eating kurtzin,” but] is only a term for the act of making a sound, this usage being common in the language of the Sages:⁷⁶Baba Bathra 5 a. The story there is told that Ravina had land on all four sides of a field belonging to a man called Runya. When Ravina put up a fence on all four sides separating his fields from that of Runya, the latter refused to pay his share of the expense. Thereupon Ravina at the time of the harvest said to his field laborer, “Bring me a cluster of grapes from Runya’s field when he is present there.” When he was about to do it Runya rebuked him, shouting, “Put it back.” Ravina then said to Runya: “Now you have shown that you are satisfied with the fence I have made. Even if only goats came into your field, would you not need to shout at them? Would you not need to hire a person to shout at them? [Hence you must share in the expense of the fence].” “And even if it were but goats, would they not achluyei michlulei (have to be shouted at)? And would you not have [to hire] a person l’achluyei (to shout) at them?” Jonathan [ben Uziel] translated: Cry aloud⁷⁷Isaiah 58:1. — ‘achlei;’ and ‘He will hiss’ unto them from the end of the earth⁷⁸Ibid., 5:26. — ‘v’yachlilei;’ ‘and they shall roar’ against them like the roaring of the sea⁷⁹Ibid., 5:30. — ‘v’yachlei’ against them. Similarly [Jonathan has translated] in many places. Thus the term achal [in Aramaic] denotes every form of making sound, whereby one makes his wish known without uttering words. Therefore this term was used [by the Sages, as mentioned above] to describe one who shouts at goats that enter a field, and [Jonathan used the same term in translating the Hebrew for] hissing,⁷⁸Ibid., 5:26. roaring⁷⁹Ibid., 5:30. and crying aloud.⁷⁷Isaiah 58:1. Now the way of talebearers is to come amongst a multitude of people, or before a ruler, and utter sounds in a guttural manner, and wink with their eyes, in order to hint that they have heard certain important matters until they press upon them that they tell them. This is why [talebearers in Aramaic] are called ochlei kurtzin, meaning “those who roar with hints.” And Onkelos who translated [the Hebrew] rechiluth (talebearing) [as theichul kurtzin — muttering hints], rendered into Aramaic the idea of the Hebrew, and was not particular to explain the precise meaning of the Scriptural expression. Such is always his style, since his intention is to make the subject understandable [and not necessarily to translate literally]. But in the Sacred Language talebearers are called holchei rachil, from the expressions, all powders of the ‘rachil’ (merchant);⁸⁰Song of Songs 3:6. ‘rechulatheich’ (thy merchandise).⁸¹Ezekiel 26:12. For the rocheil (peddler) goes about the whole day, buying merchandise in various other places, just as the Sages mention,⁸²Maasroth 2:3. “peddlers that go around from town to town,” [and similarly the holchei rachil carry tales as if they were merchandise, from place to place]. And this is the sense of the word b’amecha (among thy people) — Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer ‘among thy people’ — since the talebearer walks among many people. To differentiate between the two [the talebearer and the peddler], the talebearer was called rocheil, in a verbal form, [as the term rocheil can also signify the act of talebearing], while the peddler was called rachil, which is an adjectival noun denoting the person himself, just like saris (chief), nazir (a Nazirite), the name rachil thus hinting that peddling is of his essence, and is an act which reflects upon his person.

לא תלך רכיל בעמיך, "Do not go about your people bearing tales." Our sages in the Zohar have already preceded me in drawing attention to the apparent duplication when the Torah speaks both about לא תלך, "do not go," and רכיל, "bearing tales." The latter word implies that one goes from one person to another. So why do we need the words: "do not go?" The Zohar's answer in Nasso subsection Idra Rabbah 128 is of a mystical dimension. I believe the plain meaning of the Torah is a warning to each individual not to become a vehicle for potential defamatory information about a second party. How does one prevent this? By not revealing any information even innocent information in the hearing of anyone who might use this information or part of it and turn it into something defamatory. If that were to happen then the person who merely related the original harmless sounding story shares part of the guilt. The Torah purposely writes בעמיך, "amongst your own people," referring to people close to you who are indiscreet and blabber about any confidence they have heard or overheard. G'd adds: "I am the Lord" i.e. I am going to track down whence the defamatory remarks originated.

לא תלך רכיל, do not go around bearing tales (untrue ones). We find a similar verse in Daniel 3,8 “Chaldeans slandered the Jews.” Samuel II 22,14 ירעם משמים, G’d thundered forth from heaven, is also translated as אכלי, by Yonathan ben Uzziel, being the equivalent of the Hebrew רכיל in our verse, i.e. raising one’s voice.

לא תלך רכיל, “do not be a gossipmonger.” According to Nachmanides Onkelos’ translation of these words as לא תיכול קורצין, describes someone raising his voice. Yonathan similarly renders קרא בגרון, in Isaiah 58,1 as אכלי בגרונך, “call out loudly with your throat.” He quotes more examples of translating רכיל as something involving making something public by means of sound. An alternate rendering describes רכילות as publication of the information through unmistakable gestures with one’s eyes.

Since the kof interchanges with the gimmel. I.e., some letters are enunciated by the lips, some by the tongue, and some by the throat.

לא תלך רכיל, “do not walk around as a talebearer;” do not tell people who have been found guilty at court that if you had been the only judge in that litigation you would have declared the party found guilty as innocent. Seeing that you were in the minority, you regret that your voice was not heard. (Sifra) An alternate interpretation: [according to the interpretation that follows the absence of the letter ו before the word לא is of decisive significance. Ed.] Talebearing and standing by idly while your fellow Jew’s blood is being shed are part of the same sin. The Torah warns against talebearing as the next step would result in standing by idly while another Jew’s innocent blood is being shed. What started out as being “only” words, is liable to wind up as complicity in murder. The prophet Ezekiel 22,9 writing: אנשי רכיל היו בך, “there were talebearers amongst you, continues that verse by writing: “for the sake of bloodshed.” In other words: talebearing is no better that bloodshed. Still another interpretation of our verse: ordinarily the rule of not to go around and bear tales applies. However, if you became privy to a plot being hatched against an innocent person you must not plead this law as an excuse not to have warned the endangered party, or have reported it to the police.

לא תעמד על דם רעך NEITHER SHALT THOU STAND AGAINST THE BLOOD OF THY FELLOW — witnessing his death, you being able to rescue him: if, for instance, he is drowning in the river or if a wild beast or a robber is attacking him (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 8; Sanhedrin 73a).

לא תעמוד על דם רעך, do not stand by idly but go to his assistance.

לא תעמוד על דם רעך, “do not stand idly by when the blood of your fellow is being shed.” Seeing that the Torah does not link these two injunctions by the letter ו, i.e. ולא תעמוד וגו', some commentators believe that the entire verse contains one single prohibition, the latter half of the verse being the interpretation of the first half. The meaning would then be: do not carry tales in order that in the end you will not stand by idly when your fellow’s blood will be spilled. It is assumed that he who accepts slander against his fellow, i.e. believes the accusation, will out of anger take physical action against the person whom he perceives to have been guilty of what the slanderer accused him of. This is why our sages said that לשון הרע, “slander eventually kills three people.” (Tanchuma, Metzora, 2)

Faithful to reward. To those who fulfill the commandments.

Another aspect of our verse is that the Torah warns that we must not associate with nor tolerate the presence of people who spread evil gossip. Providing such people with a home or otherwise assisting them makes the host an accessory to their sin, part of the cause.

לא תלך רכיל, “do not spread evil tales that have come to your attention, but be the one where this practice stops from gaining further ground.”Onkelos renders this commandment as: לא תיכול קורצין, do not make evil gossip public;” the root of the word קורצין, is קרץ, blinking with one’s eyes i.e. instead of mouthing bad comments about people doing the same covertly. The term is found in that sense in the Book of Daniel, (3,8) [which is written in Aramaic, i.e. Targum, Ed.] ואכלו קרציהם דיהודאי, “they defamed the Jews by blinking with their eyes.”The meaning of the word: הכריזו, is to defame from heaven. In the Targum Yonatan on Samuel II 22,14 אכלי מן שמים, “G-d thundered from Heaven.”

‎'אני ה‎‎ I AM THE LORD — Who am faithful in paying reward to those who obey My commandments and Who am certain to punish those who transgress them.

To exact payment. Explanation, to those who transgress them. (Gur Aryeh) [Even though “I am Adonoy” generally means “faithful to reward,” this verse cannot be saying that] since this negative commandment involves no urge of the evil inclination as in immoral relationships, where a person’s inclination lusts for forbidden women there is no reward here, since there is no reward unless one’s inclination urges one [to sin], as we see in the first chapter of Kiddushin. Therefore, Rashi is forced to say that this is what the verse means: “I am Adonoy” regarding everything, whether reward or punishment. Since He is faithful to pay reward, He is also faithful to exact punishment. [See Gur Aryeh] (Kitzur Mizrachi) Because you might ask, why does it say here “I am Adonoy?” These cases are visible [to everyone], “Do not be a tale-bearer among your people. You shall not stand idly by, etc.,” [and the Torah generally only writes “I am Adonoy” regarding cases where people cannot detect whether one did right or wrong and one has to fear Hashem who sees one’s hidden deeds]. Therefore [Rashi explains], “Faithful to reward.” [The Torah emphasizes this here to tell you that] even if there is a an aspect of transgression in saving someone, such as when a woman is drowning in a river and you have to save her, or if you have to save someone by killing the person pursuing him, nevertheless, I will pay reward for your good intent. Similarly the opposite, if you do not save him [because of this aspect of transgression], I am faithful to exact payment.

לא תעמוד על דם רעך, "Do not stand idly by when your colleague's blood is being spilled." This part of the verse is a natural corollary of the prohibition to bear tales. When one becomes aware of an assassination attempt for instance, one has to warn the potential victim in order to enable him to save himself. The Torah writes the words: "Do not stand by idly, etc," to warn us that relaying a warning to a person of an attempt to assassinate him which one has overheard does not fall under the prohibition not to bear tales. Failure to warn the potential victim which results in the murder being carried out makes the party who did not issue the warning guilty of violating this commandment. Jeremiah 40,14 reports that Gedalyah ben Achikom was warned of an assassination attempt against him by a fellow Jew Ishmael ben Netanyah. Gedalyah's refusal to believe that he was in danger resulted in his death at the hand of assassins.