Q&A: Verbal Wronging
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Verbal Wronging
Question
The Talmud in Bava Metzia (58b) gives examples of verbal wronging, including: if suffering was coming upon someone, if illnesses were coming upon him, or if he was burying his children, one should not say to him, as Job’s friends said to him, “Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? Remember now, who that was innocent ever perished?”
Is it considered verbal wronging when someone publicly explains that this or that tragedy happened because of a particular sin? (Aside from the fact that it’s ridiculous and pointless.)
Answer
Simply speaking, yes, at least if he says it to a person who was personally affected.