Question:
B”H
Kavod haRav,
Would the following scenario be a case of person B listening to Lashon Hara? Person A tries to encourage person B regarding a job interview. Person A says to person B that if “they are smart enough” they will hire you. Person A may or may not know what Jewish organization/people are involved in hiring, but person B did not mention it directly so there is room to believe that person A does not know who/what place/people is potentially hiring. Did person B listen to Lashon Hara, or was this a permitted way of t’oeles because person B was looking for encouragement etc. Person B did not believe anything negative about the people/organization. If it was Lashon Hara, is mechila necessary from those people/organization, or teshuva to Hashem is sufficient. Thank you sincerely.
Answer:
Hi,
From what you are writing it seems that what person A was saying was merely to be encouraging to person B, and it was not meant as saying the company B are not smart if the person wasn’t hired. There could actually be a lot of different reasons why a particular person is preferred over another, and often it is not because the company is stupid or incapable. IT could be merely because hired the other person had a certain convenience for the people hiring, and it doesn’t mean that they are deficient in any way.
Therefore, what was said is not considered lashon hora, and there is no need to be concerned about it.
Best wishes
