Reply To: Kabbalas Loshon Horo

LU: Let me clarify the story a little bit. Nobody told me that he humiliated the Talmid Chochom; I witnessed him doing something that was seemingly innocent, but for those with the backstory of their [one-way] fight could clearly see that he was intending to embarrass the Talmid Chochom.

If I would not have been mekabel LH, I would have no reason to suspect that what I saw constituted a בזיון ת”ח. It is only with the background I shouldn’t have had that I could put the actions into context and understand them. And if I would be told now that the background was NOT true, I would think that there was no humiliation at all.

The question is whether I can say that I witnessed the humiliation if it uses background I had no right to have.

(Please note – everyone else present was in the same boat as me; there was no one (with perhaps the exception of two) who had legitimate [halachically] information; everyone was under the same Kaballas Loshon Horo. Unfortunately, it was a rather widespread story.)