Does the Torah Speak Lashon Hara?

Real questions, submitted by actual OU Torah followers, with their real answers. NOTE: For questions of practical halacha, please consult your own rabbi for guidance.

Q. I always wondered but was afraid to ask: how does having people's unsavory deeds in the Torah not violate lashon hara? I guess technically it probably checks the toeles box and maybe they consented to their deeds being written in the Torah?

A. In my younger and more irreverent days I used to joke about the mitzvah to emulate God: “As He is compassionate, so should you be compassionate…” I would add to the end, “As He causes thousands of deaths every day, so should you….” Of course, when people die of natural causes, that doesn’t make God guilty of murder, chas v’shalom. The rules that He gives us clearly don’t apply to Him. So the whole idea of God being “guilty” of lashon hara is completely inapplicable.

But yes, they are absolutely l’toeles. Every word in the Torah teaches us something, so if Moshe or Aharon or Yoseif’s brothers do something wrong, we learn from it and it doesn’t diminish them. If anything, it underscores the high levels they achieved.

It should be noted that there are times that the Torah conceals a name. For example, the Torah never says that the gatherer in the midbar was Tzelofchad; Rabbi Akiva makes this identification in the Talmud. Rav Yehuda ben Beseira replied that Rabbi Akiva shouldn’t say such things - even if he’s right, he’s revealing what the Torah concealed. So the Torah absolutely shares such things l’toeles but sometimes it holds them back by concealing a name or the exact nature of a misdeed. (The Navi even disguises Moshe's name in Judges chapter 18.)

As far as consent, the Midrash (Rus Rabbah 5:6) tells us that, if Aharon had known that the Torah would record that he went to meet Moshe, he would have greeted him with a band. It makes similar statements about Reuven and Boaz. If the people in the Torah were occasionally embarrassed that their good deeds, for which they are praised, were too modest, they're probably not too thrilled with their mistakes being publicized but I doubt they were consulted for permission. On the other hand, in Eiruvin 53b, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah shared incidents in which his errors were corrected even by children, so great people do want us to learn from their mistakes!

Rabbi Jack's latest book, Ask Rabbi Jack, is now available from Kodesh Press and on Amazon.com.