Question:
B”H Thank you.
Someone who is not Jewish was working in a building and seemed to make “romantic” gestures toward a resident (the Jewish resident did make the mistake of being overly friendly by chatting with the person as this was before they became knowledgeable in Jewish law and ways of conducting themselves.) The Jewish persons friendliness seemed to be mistaken, and the person working in the building tried to give the Jewish person a small gift. This made the recipient uncomfortable and she notified building management and he was subsequently not hired (he was working in the building on what seemed to be a “test run” to see if a more permanent position would be offered, and he was not hired but fired, and probably not allowed to work for that company going forward.) The questions are 1. Is it informing in this situation that the Jewish resident told management of the situation where the man tried to give a gift to her (I do not believe the man was Jewish, but can not say for absolutely 100%), 2. As this happened years ago, is it necessary to try to track the man down and apologize, or would teshuva to HaShem be sufficient teshuva? Thank you very sincerely for your help, it really does help to guide me on the right ways to make teshuva.
Answer:
It is very altruistic of you to make sure that you take care of anything that you might have done before knowledgeable of halacha, but regarding this incident you do not have to track him down or ask him forgiveness. First of all, if the management fired him because he was acting inappropriately, and against the rules of his employment, which may be for public safety, and you are not to blame but get credit for it. Secondly, there is no prohibition against speaking lashon hora regarding a non-Jew. Therefore you don’t have to worry about it.
Have a good Yom Tov
