Halakhah su Salmi 5:5

(14) It also is apparent that [in all eight modes] he also transgresses (Devarim 28:9): "And you shall walk in His ways," whereby we have been commanded to emulate the traits of the Holy One Blessed be He, all of which [traits] are for the good alone, as Chazal have said (Shabbath 133b): "Just as He is merciful, you, too, be merciful; just as He is gracious, you, too, be gracious," and the like with the other good traits, as is explained by the Rambam (Hilchoth Deoth 1:5 and 6). And we find with the Holy One Blessed be He, in His pure and holy traits, that He hates delation [informing] in all modes, even against the most reprehensible of men, as Chazal have said in the episode of Achan [viz. Joshua 7] (Sanhedrin 11a): "Am I [the L–rd] a delator for you?" And He hopes for the good and not for the bad (viz. Tanna d'bei Eliyahu 1), and (Sotah 42a): "Four classes do not behold the Divine Presence: …the class of the speakers of lashon hara, as it is written (Tehillim 5:5): 'For You are not a G–d who desires wickedness, evil shall not dwell with You.'" Therefore, one who habituates himself to this evil trait does not walk in the way of the L–rd, which is only to do good to others, and he does the opposite — wherefore the Torah designated [lashon hara] as "evil" — so that he also transgresses this positive commandment [i.e., "And you shall walk in His ways."]
We have thus enumerated fourteen positive commandments, which tend to be transgressed by lashon hara and rechiluth (aside from the aforementioned seventeen negative commandments). And though all the seventeen negative commandments and fourteen positive commandments cannot obtain with one man and with one slur, as is clear to the reader, still, all who are habituated, G–d forbid, to this evil trait will certainly transgress all of them in the course of time. For sometimes he will come to speak lashon hara against an elder, and sometimes, against a sage. And sometimes he will demean him to his face and sometimes not to his face, as mentioned above.

Rabbi Yirmiyah bar Abba said,¹⁶Sotah 42a. "[The following] four categories [of people] will not see the Divine Presence [in the Hereafter]: scorners, flatterers, liars, and those who speak lashon hara (slanderers). Scorners [can be inferred], from the verse; 'He withdraws His hand from scorners."¹⁷Hosea 7:5. (Rashi explains [mashach yado] the Holy One, blessed is He, pulls away His hand, [rejecting] the company of scorners). Flatterers, [can be inferred], from the verse, "A flatterer cannot come before Him."¹⁸Job 13:6. Liars [may be inferred], from the verse, "He who tells lies will have no place before My eyes."¹⁹Psalms 101:7. Those who speak lashon hara, from the verse, "You are not a God Who desires wickedness, evil will not abide with You."²⁰Psalms 5:5. (Rashi explains [that the phrase] "Evil will not abide with You" refers to those who speak lashon hara, because it is written in this psalm²¹Psalms 5:10. "For there is no sincerity in their mouth…") [The Gemara concludes:] "Since you are a righteous God, no evil can abide in Your dwelling."²²Sotah 42a. Our Rabbis of blessed memory said furthermore,²³Sanhedrin 63b. "All ridicule is forbidden except for ridiculing idol worship,²⁴It is considered a great mitzvah to ridicule idol worship and deride an evil and immoral way of life. (Siddur Arizal) for it is written, "And it happened at noon that Eliyahu mocked them…"²⁵I Kings 18:27.

Four groups do not receive the Divine Presence:¹Sotah 42a. a group of liars; a group of hypocrites; a group of gossipers; a group of scoffers; and all are referred to in Scripture. “A group of liars” (is denied the Divine Presence because it is stated) “He that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before Mine eyes” (Ps. 101:7). And also in the wars of Ahab, when he came and asked the prophets if he should go out and do battle, the spirit of Naboth came before God, and he said: “I will go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said: etc…. ‘Go forth’” (I Kings 22:22). And our scholars explain this to mean, “Go forth from my precincts.”²Sanhedrin 102b. “Hypocrites” (are denied His presence as it is written), “A hypocrite cannot come before Him” (Job 13:16). “Those who relate evil gossip” (are denied His presence), for it is said, “For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; Evil shall not sojourn with Thee” (Ps. 5:5). Evil (doers) shall not sojourn with you nor enter your precincts. “Scoffers” (are denied His presence) “The boasters shall not stand in Thy sight” (Ps. 5:6). People who are scoffers confound the world. “Evil gossip,” (includes also that which is) intended to dishonor his neighbor, even though it be true.³Maimonides, Commentary on Aboth, Chapter I, p. 16. Even if it becomes a (popular) by-word, it is ignoble to indulge in its use. If one has spread an evil report about his neighbor or has disgraced him with reviling matters of which he had never been suspected and which no one had anticipated (but which were apparently true), the sin of the person who has revealed it is not atoned for, because he cannot set aright that which he has perverted, nor undo the disgrace caused his neighbor, and this is what Solomon said in his wisdom, “Lest he that heareth it revile thee” (Prov. 25:10). And so is it taught in the Jerusalem Talmud,⁴J. T. Baba Kamma 8:7. “He who sins against his neighbor, and then repeatedly goes and asks for his pardon, but his neighbor does not respond, let him form lines of people and pacify him before them. This is what is said, “He cometh before men and saith, ‘I have sinned’ against so and so and behold I repent.” And if he does so, he redeems his soul from death, for it is written after that, “So He redeemeth his soul from going into the pit” (Job 33:28). Rabbi Jose said, “This is said concerning one who does not spread evil reports about his neighbor, but if he does there is absolutely no forgiveness.” If he inflicts pain on an individual it is as though he inflicts pain on the entire world, for everything that is in the world is in man.⁵Midrash Tanhuma (Berlin: Horeb Publishers, 1924), Pekuday, p. 344. If he spits before him but the spittle does not reach him, he is free from judgement in human law, but guilty under divine law.⁶Baba Kamma 90a and 91a. Even if he inflicts a small measure of pain he will be punished at the hands of the Lord for each and every hurt which he inflicts upon his neighbor, for it is said, “That for all these things God will bring thee into judgement (Eccl. 11:9) concerning every hidden thing” (Eccl. 12:14). And our rabbis elucidate,⁷Hagigah 5a. “What is meant with ‘concerning every hidden thing’?” This refers to one who kills vermin before his neighbor and disgusts him thereby, others say it refers to one who spits. Therefore all the God-fearing and righteous through whom the Holy One, blessed be He, does not cause any stumbling, let them be cautious to forgive immediately those who kill vermin or spit or do anything repulsive so that there be no stumbling through them (the righteous ).⁸Megillah 28a. It is reported of a certain pious man that he covered all the spittle that he found in a place where he knew the offender to be a Jew and would forgive him (the offender). He covered it so that another would not come, see and be disgusted by it, and not pardon the offender, with the result that the offender stumbles thereby. And it is good to follow this procedure.
“Whether it be good or whether it be evil” (Eccl. 12:14), this ending passage they interpret to mean one who gives charity to the poor publicly.⁹Hagigah 5a. For this deed he stands in judgement because he embarasses the recipient. Also, one who gives charity to a woman privately, brings upon himself suspicion, for it is said, “Then ye shall be clear before the Lord and before Israel” (Num. 32:22). Moreover, he causes those who suspect him to stumble and be punished because of him, because those who suspect the innocent are flogged.¹⁰Yoma 19b. The Soncino translation reads: “Whosoever suspects good folks will suffer (for it) on his own body.” How do we know this? From Moses our teacher, who said, “But behold they will not believe me” (Exod. 4:1) immediately he became leprous.¹¹Shabbath 97a. Moreover others will not accept his reprimands, but will say to him, “You do such and such, and you are reproving us!” Therefore the supervisors of charity should not burden the poor man to work without pay, except for a meritorious deed, because the poor man fears them, moreover, he derives profit from them; also that the congregation should not suspect him (the supervisor) saying, “He (the supervisor) gives a greater portion to this one (poor man) than to the others so that he (poor man) should perform services for him,” and the Torah says, “then ye shall be clear” (Num. 32:22).¹²Yoma 38a. “From every evil thing” (interpreting verse “whether it be evil” in Eccl. 12:14) refers to causative matters which a man causes deliberately, and inflicts pain on his neighbor, for this he is punished. Those who steal, take or conceal a thing which causes grief to the owner who must seek it, transgress a prohibitory law.¹³Shulhan Arukh, “Hoshen Mishpat,” 348. And so our scholars interpret,¹⁴Baba Metzia 61b. “Ye shall not steal” (Lev. 19:11) in order to vex or to cause (another) pain. Even if he causes pain to an animal unnecessarily, by placing upon her an unreasonable load, and beating her so that she is unable to go, he comes under judgement for inflicting pain on a living creature.¹⁵Shabbath 128b. Similarly those who pull the ears of cats to hear them shout are sinning. Our scholars also expounded, “In that day Saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness” (Zech. 12:4). In the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will demand accounting from the riders for the harm they have inflicted on their horses for having struck them with greaves, which are called eperon in French.¹⁶The French term for spurs.

And so does the verse state, "For He does not oppress from His heart, nor bring grief to man" (Lamentations 3:33). And it is also written, "For You are not a God who desires wickedness, etc." (Psalms 5:5) - meaning to say that God, may He be blessed, does not obligate liability to any creature from His desire for the liability, as the good God always desires good. Rather, it is a man who makes himself liable in his moving from righteousness; and [so] removes from himself the preparations that allow him to receive the good. And the parable for this is the one who walks on a straight path that is free of stones and from anything that makes one stumble, but there is a hedge of thorns from this [side] and from that [side]. And one went and rubbed the hedge and was hurt - truthfully, one cannot say about this man that God desired his hurt. [Rather,] he was the cause, since he was not careful to walk straight. And so too, with one who sins, it is the attribute of justice that makes him liable for his sin regardless. And one cannot say that the good God desired his liability. [Rather,] in his preventing himself from the good, from the angle of his sin, did evil become [drawn] found to him. And similar to this thing did they, may their memory be blessed, say - "No evil thing descends from Above" (Bereshit Rabbah 51:3).