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Why does the Torah (תורה) prohibit accepting "lies" (Lo Tisah Shema Shav) when lashon hara can be completely true? The shiur develops a profound yesod: a statement can be factually accurate yet still be a lie if it creates a false impression of who someone really is. Isolating one negative deed from the totality of a person's character is sheker—and reversing this pattern, focusing on people's good deeds, is the key to achieving shalom and ending galus.
This shiur addresses the fundamental problem of lashon hara and its connection to the lack of shalom that keeps the Jewish people in galus. Rabbi Zweig begins by noting that the parsha of Terumah deals with building the Mishkan, which represents the divine presence dwelling among the Jewish people. Chazal teach that the Shechinah can only rest where there is shalom—even in a home, divine presence requires harmony between husband and wife. The Jewish people have been in exile for two thousand years because of sinas chinam, our inability to get along with each other. The shiur's central question emerges from a difficult Rashi (רש"י) on the pasuk "Lo Sisah Shema Shav" (Do not carry/accept a false report). Rashi explains this prohibition refers to one who accepts lashon hara, translating "shema shav" as "sheker" (lie). The Rambam (רמב"ם) similarly states this is a prohibition against speaking lashon hara. However, this presents a fundamental difficulty: we know from halacha (הלכה) that lashon hara applies even when the statement is completely true. If the prohibition only forbids accepting lies, how can it encompass the prohibition of lashon hara, which includes true statements? Additionally, this same prohibition includes a second application: a judge may not listen to one litigant without the other being present. Why is this also under the rubric of "not accepting lies"?
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Parshas Terumah, Mishpatim 23:1 (Lo Tisah Shema Shav)
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