Q&A: Listening to Gossip
Listening to Gossip
Question
In the Talmud, Sabbath 97a, it is explained in the give-and-take of the discussion that only Miriam was struck with leprosy because she was the one who began speaking first. Aaron was indeed rebuked, but in the end it seems that the main prohibition is to initiate gossip, and this also appears to be the plain sense of the verse: “And behold, Miriam was leprous, white as snow.”
My question is: why did they equate, with respect to the prohibition of gossip, the speaker and the listener? הרי from here it is proven that the listener, even if he participates in the gossip, as long as he did not initiate it, is subject only to a rebuke.
Answer
I do not see why the line should be drawn דווקא there. There is a difference between the definition of the prohibition and the line from which point onward punishment is administered. Clearly there are different levels of prohibition, but how do you know that listening is not fully included in the prohibition itself?!
But Aaron listened and even participated in the gossip, and received nothing more than a rebuke!
A rebuke from the Holy One, blessed be He, does indeed show His will, but in the end it still is not in the category of a formal prohibition.