For the source text click/tap here: Bava Batra 164
To download, click/tap here: PDF
According to Jewish law, are there limitations on the praise that a person is allowed to heap on his friend?
This issue comes up as part of a discussion about documents that were either poorly – or else well – written.
Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] received a get mekushar (see above – daf 160) and he could not locate the date. His son, Rabbi Shimon, suggested that it may have been “swallowed up” by the folds of the document. Rabbi unfolded the document and found the date. Rabbi Shimon then realized that Rabbi was peering in at him and he understood that his father assumed that he had written it incorrectly. Rabbi Shimon defended himself by saying that he had not written the document, rather it was written by Rabbi Yehuda the Tailor. Rabbi became upset with his son and told him that he should avoid telling stories that involved lashon ha-ra (evil tidings).
We explore the notion of “avak loshen horah.”