Suspicion Saves the Situation
When I was in Paris, a man came to tell me lashon hara about a fellow Jew. After compelling me to hear his sordid story, he explained that he had only altruistic intentions in relating it. He wanted me to reprove the protagonist for his misdeeds.
“How do you know that he did these things?” I asked him instead.
He kept quiet and refused to respond.
I continued, “If you do not reply, I cannot believe a word of what you are saying. I refuse to rebuke someone for things he did not do.”
The man remained silent and left the room.
Some time later, he phoned me. He related that after I had rejected his words, he began to wonder if what he had heard was true. He investigated the matter and found that the entire incident had been fabricated, a figment of someone’s overactive imagination.
I was very happy to hear that I did not believe something derogatory about a fellow Jew. I thanked Hashem for allowing me to be doubtful about an episode that did not have a sound basis. I might otherwise have chastised a fellow Jew for nothing, causing him public shame. Baruch Hashem, I was spared this sin.
