[Avodah] Lashon Hara?

[harchinam]

> : I recently posted a review of a session I had with a councilor on a group
> : on Facebook.  A woman emailed me saying that she thought the review was
> : lashon hara because it could negatively impact the councilor's parnassah.
>

According to hilchos LH, you are NOT forbidden from answering a question
about a service person provided that you meet 7 conditions. Among them are,
that it is only truth without any exaggeration, that it is for toeles [that
the person would intend to use this person's services], that you not have
any ill intentions or anger toward the person you are speaking about, that
you answer only what you are asked without adding on, and that it must be
your experience and not hearsay unless you explicitly say so.

There is no mitzva aseh to make sure that you only say things that will
ensure that everyone else makes money no matter what, and there is likewise
no mitva lo saseh that forbids one telling the truth when asked for toeles
that might cause someone not to choose to patronize a provider, providing
the conditions above are met. You are not required to be the world's
salesman and to ensure that you either lie or fudge the truth in order that
someone else make money.

There is however a mitzva not to stand by one's brother's blood [or let him
lose money if you can stop it] and a mitzva not to put a stumbling block in
front of the blind.

I think that what you wrote was very fair and honest and did not negatively
attack the counselor at all. You merely gave your experiences and
recommended a book that could also help the person. You did not say that
your experience would be that of everyone else and you did not discourage
people from this person.

Sorry, it seems to me that the person who complained should get a chavrusa
and learn the halachot better.

*** Rena
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20111214/4b2bfe59/attachment-0002.htm>