Q&A: Distributing Information That Came Into My Hands
Distributing Information That Came Into My Hands
Question
Hello Rabbi, I’m a renter in a building, and by mistake they added me to the apartment owners’ group. From there I discover all kinds of interesting bits of information that clarify dynamics and events, and sometimes also small lies that they agree to tell us tenants. I have two questions: Am I allowed to remain in the group, or do I need to let them know that I’m also in the group and they’ll remove me immediately? And am I allowed to tell the other tenants what I read in the group and share screenshots? There’s no smoking gun there, but maybe one day there will be.
Answer
I think that in principle you should leave the group. This falls under the ban of Rabbenu Gershom (like opening someone else’s letter). If information about a lie that will harm someone comes into your hands, you may reveal it to the potential victim in order to prevent the harm.
Discussion on Answer
Unrelated to the topic, I’d be happy for an explanation of this rule of “its measure is nullified by being ground down” and regarding what it was said.
If you have a question, ask it in a separate responsa post, and define what you’re asking. The fact that someone here was trolling should not divert the discussion in a trollish direction.
There is still room to discuss this from the angle that one is בכלל forbidden to possess a smartphone with WhatsApp; if so, its status is that of “ground down so its measure is nullified,” and it is as though the information does not actually exist. If so, even though he possesses it, that is only because of the prohibition of possessing a smartphone, but not because of the ban of Rabbenu Gershom, since it is as if he read a burned letter that contains no information at all, and the information is something created ex nihilo, or from divine inspiration כביכול.