Reply To: Kabbalas Loshon Horo

If you DO believe but shouldn’t, is that enough to be a firsthand witness?

No, I wouldn’t think so.

Let me rephrase a question I posed earlier. If I overhear a conversation between two people talking Loshon Horo about a third, and from the illegally obtained information, I ascertain that I am in a position of danger – let say, for arguments sake, from the third guy who wishes to kill me.

I was not allowed to hear that information. I should not believe the information (and for arguments sake, let’s work with the assumption that this is the Halachah in the above scenario), yet I do.

Would you say I am mechuyav to remove myself from the danger (by escaping), or would I be allowed to stay put because the information I recieved was illegitimately obtained?

(I don’t mean this like presenting evidence in court that was obtained without a warrant etc.; of course that is a foolproof knowledge. If am talking specifically in situations where you are not allowed to believe)

[I instinctively think that I would be mechuyav to save myself from danger, yet in my own case I am not convinced, although I cannot pinpoint the difference.]