Do not verbally harass
Verse: ולא תונו איש את עמיתו
Command: Do not verbally harass your fellow.
Vayikra 25:17
SMG
[the negative Mitzva against harassing one’s friend is recited in] Parshas Behar in the verse[i] ולא תונו איש את עמיתו ויראת מאלקיך, [כי] אני ה’, and we learnt in Toras Kohanim which was also stated in the Gemara[ii] [α] that the verse is talking about verbal harassment, since had it been referring to financial harassment, there was already a verse[iii] [prohibiting this. See negative Mitzva 170]. An example of what verbal harassment is; if a person was a Ba’al Teshuva, one should not tell him ‘Recall what you used to do’. If he was a convert, do not say to him ‘the mouth that ate non-kosher food should come and teach Torah which was given to Moshe at Sinai from the mouth of G‑d Almighty?!’ If a person is suffering tribulations or burying his children, one should not tell him as Iyov’s friends told him[iv] הלא יראתך כסלתך… זכור נא מי הוא נקי אבד. Included in this prohibition is [for example] one who asks about something requiring specific knowledge to someone who does not know that field. Such things are only measured in one’s heart [it is impossible to know why a person asks a question.] And Rabbi Yehuda taught in the Gemara there that one should not even window shop when a person does not have the funds to purchase the object [which is something private. Only the individual knows if he has the funds or not]. Regarding that which is only known in one’s heart, the verses use the term ויראת מאלקיך [1]. The Gemara continues, [quoting the verse and explaining the term עמיתו as applying to] ‘one who is with you in Torah and Mitzva observance’, that is the type of person you are admonished not to harass – which teaches us this Mitzva only applies to those who fear G‑d.[2] The Midrash notes that if one is being harassed, one can harass [the oppressor] in return, since [at that moment the harasser] is not called עמיתך. We’ve said elsewhere in the Gemara[v] [with regard to] a person who ‘סני שומעניה – one who has a bad reputation certainly may be embarrassed with a ג and ש’ – meaning גייפא שיטא. [β] Another meaning [of the ג and ש] is בן גויה and בן שפחה, or another meaning [of the ג and ש] is גערת שמתא – as we learnt elsewhere in the Gemara[vi] regarding Rab Yehuda who placed into נידוי a student with a bad reputation[3], and we also said elsewhere in the Gemara[vii] anyone who does not follow the sages, may be called a עבריינא – sinner.
With regard to three (3) things, verbal harassment is worse than financial harassment:
- one can be returned and one cannot,
- one is with money and one is with the body itself,
- one has the term ויראת [מאלקיך] appended to the prohibition and one does not
and[4] anyone who cries out after being verbally harassed is immediately answered, as it says in the verse כי אני ה’.
And Rav Ĉisda said[viii] ‘all the [heavenly] gates were closed[5], save for the gates for the harassed.’
[1] A common expression used for Mitzvos where only G‑d knows what is in a person’s heart and whether the Mitzva was violated. As far as human knowledge is concerned, the person can commit these sins with impunity since humans are unable to adjudicate if one has indeed violated the Mitzva or not.
[2] Very unusual turn of phrase, especially since we just stated that the Mitzva applies to one who is ‘with you in Torah and Mitzva observance’ why change the terminology. In the same way only G‑d knows what is in the heart of the person who is committing the harassment, only G‑d knows what is in the heart of the person being harassed. Therefore, in effect, the SMG is hinting that all Jews are included in this Mitzva as protected from harassment, since one cannot know what is in the heart of another as to whether they qualify for עמיתו, whether they are ‘with you in Torah and Mitzvos observance’ or not.
[3] The Gemara notes that a שמתא was issued, not a נידוי. However, it is not clear from the Gemara if this was fully enacted. When Rav Yehuda became sick, the student apparently visited him together with others even though it was known that Rav Yehuda had excommunicated him.
[4] Seemingly, based on the structure of the paragraph in the Hebrew version this could be mistaken as a fourth difference, but the SMG does not state that G‑d will not immediately answer someone financially harassed – the opposite is true, notwithstanding the statement by Rav Ĉisda, the baseline of prayer is the assumption that one will be answered.
[5] In the Gemara: Rabbi Elazar said, since the day the Base Hamikdash was destroyed, all gates of prayer have been closed, as it says in the verse [Aycha 3:8] גם כי אזעק ואשוע שתם תפילתי. And even though the gates of prayer are closed, the gates of tears are not closed, as it says in the verse [Tehillim 39:13] שמעה תפלתי ה’ ושועתי האזינה אל דמעתי אל תחרש.
Rav Ĉisda said, all the gates have been closed except for the gates for the harassed, as it says in the verse [Amos 7:7] הנה ה’ נצב על חומת אנך ובידו אנך.
Rabbi Eliezer added, everyone is punished by means of an emissary, but one who harasses is punished by G‑d Almighty himself, as it says ובידו אנך.
[i] Vayikra 25:17
[ii] Gem. Bava Metzia 58b
[iii] Vayikra 25:14
[iv] Iyov 4:6-7
[v] Gem. Megilla 25b
[vi] Gem. Moed Katan 17a
[vii] Gem. Shabbos 40a
[viii] Gem. Bava Metzia 59a
AMUDAY SHLOMO
[α] This is the correct version of the Gemara ‘one who asks a point of wisdom, not that he knows for certain the one he is asking doesn’t know etc.’
[β] גייפא שטיא. The Aroĉ explains this as נואף along the lines of [the verse[i]] נואף אשה חסר לב. [presumably, the term גייפא is the same as נואף with the letter ג Gimmel replacing the letter נ Nun. And the term שטיא comes from שטות, or idiot, as the verse continues to describe the adulterer[1].]
[1] The verse is talking about the adulterer, not the adulteress. There are other verses that address a woman who strays. Here the use is appropriate, as the Gemara is mocking the adulterer that even his paramour cheats on him, either with other men / adulterers or with her husband (or both).
[i] Mishlei 6:32
RASHI
Rashi states unambiguously ‘here the Torah warns against harassing another verbally; do not provoke your friend or give him inappropriate advice – [inappropriate meaning self-serving] for the benefit of the mode of life of the advisor. If you are going to say, who will know what intent I have in giving the advice, that is why the verse continues with ויראת מאלקיך – the one who knows thoughts knows. Anything that is only known in the heart which can only be perceived by the person with the intent, has the phrase ויראת מאלקיך assigned [to its admonishment].’
Discussion by SMS
[β] The Gemara discusses the circumstances under which it would be permitted to verbally harass someone. Rav Naĉman stated that any mockery is forbidden except when mocking idolatry, which is permissible as it says in the verse[i] כרע כל קרס נבו which describes the idols and ascribes to the gods associated with them as stooping to defecate, and as the next verse continues קרסו כרעו יחדו לא יכלו מלט משא not only are they caught with their pants down, but they are too constipated to be able to relieve themselves. This is obviously mocking those idols, and their followers, as opposed to implying that such deities actually exist and that they defecate. Rabbi Yan’aye derives [the permissibility to mock idolatry] from a different verse[ii] לעגלות בית אבן יגורו שכן שמרון, כי אבל עליו עמו וכמריו עליו יגילו על כבודו כי גלה ממנו – the word כבודו should be read כבידו which implies the idol / god is suffering from diarrhea.
Rav Huna son of Man’oach said in the name of Rav Aĉa son of Rav Ika, it is permissible for a Jew to tell a non-Jew ‘Take your idol and put it in the Shin Tav’ a reference[1] to the verse[iii] וחשופי שת ערות מצרים – bare buttocks; the shame of Egypt.
Rav Ashi said, regarding a person who has a bad reputation [in that he is an adulterer], one may embarrass him with the “ג Gimel ש Shin”, and one who has a good reputation it is permissible to praise him, and one who does praise him – may blessings rest on his head.
Rashi provides the example of the mocking of a person with a bad reputation as:
‘The son of an adulteress, and her name was prostitute.’ The term סרייה means something rotten, rank and stinking. [see discussion on the term בן סורר ומורה negative Mitzva 220] That is how it was rendered in the responsa of the geniuses. One is permitted to mock even the mother who gave birth to him. Our sages explained [the abbreviated ג Gimel ש Shin as] גיופא שייטא שטייא – an adulteress who swims around from paramour to paramour like an idiot.
[1] I wonder if this has any relation to the vulgar word in English with the same consonants. Similarly with regard to the next term, גיופא שייטא I wonder at the similarity of גיופא to Kaishun 買春, the Japanese term for a prostitute (the K being pronounced like a G).
[i] Yeshayahu 46:1-2
[ii] Hoshaya 10:5
[iii] Yeshayahu 20:4
Key
Etymology and Definitions of Defined Terms
- אונאה – harassment
like a child always responding nonsensically[1], no matter was is asked of them – Rashi[i] translates it as contraire in French.
[1] Perhaps the taunting na’ah or na naa nana na that children mockingly respond with is derived from this word אונאה. Or the word אונאה is derived from an onomatopoeia.
[i] Rashi Shemos 22:20