The Hidden Cost of Gossip: What the Torah Teaches About Lashon Hara and Losing Your Merits

The Torah states, “You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people” (Vayikra 19:16). This verse refers to the grave sin of lashon hara — speaking negatively about others, even when the information is true. As long as the speech serves no constructive purpose, it is a serious transgression.

Lashon Hara and the Loss of Merit

Rabbeinu Bachya, one of the great medieval sages, writes in his Chovot HaLevavot (Gate of Humility): “A pious man once said: Many people will come on the Day of Judgment and, when their book of merits is opened before the Heavenly Court, they will find many good deeds they never performed. They will be told, ‘These are the deeds of those who spoke lashon hara against you and slandered your name.’

Likewise, others will find that their own good deeds are missing. They will be told, ‘Your merits were transferred to those you spoke ill of.’ And some will see sins recorded under their name that they never committed. They will be told, ‘These were added to your record because you spoke lashon hara about those people.’”

Evil speech transfers spiritual energy — the speaker loses his merits, and they are given to the person he shamed.

The Severity of the Sin

This idea is consistent with what Maimonides (Rambam) writes (Hilchot Teshuvah, chapter 3): “Those who have no share in the World to Come include heretics, deniers of the Torah… and habitual speakers of lashon hara.”

Lashon hara is so spiritually destructive that it causes a person to lose the reward of his mitzvot, which are then credited to those he harmed. The Kabbalistic interpretation explains that the divine energy generated by a mitzvah — the “spiritual abundance” that comes from good deeds, is redirected from the gossiper to the person he defamed.

The Message of Shlomo Hamelech

The great sage Rabbi Shlomo Kluger interpreted Shlomo Hamelech's words in Kohelet 5:5: “Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not say before the angel that it was an error;  why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?” The Midrash teaches that this verse refers specifically to those who speak lashon hara. 

Rabbi Kluger explains: When a person speaks lashon hara about another, many of his own merits transfer to the victim, and many of the victim’s sins are assigned to the speaker.

When the slanderer stands before the Heavenly Court, he is shown a record full of sins he never committed and missing many good deeds he thought were his. He cries out, “This must be a mistake!”

But the angels reply: “Do not say, ‘It was an error.’ God is angry with your voice — because your own words of lashon hara caused your deeds to be taken away and given to the person you defamed.”

Thus, “God destroys the work of your hands” — your spiritual accomplishments are transferred to the one you spoke against.

Practical Lesson: Guarding Our Speech

A person must be extremely cautious about speaking negatively of others, especially when it serves no constructive or necessary purpose.

If someone else speaks badly about you, you should not grow angry; in truth, you have gained new merits recorded in your name, without any effort on your part.

May God help us guard our tongues from evil speech, merit pure words spoken in His name, and transform our speech into a source of blessing and merit.

Based on the halachic rulings of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, courtesy of the “Halacha Yomit” website.