(Derech Agav, the Magen Avraham 119:1 says that you DO need to mention his name if the sick person is not in front of you. This might actually answer the Yaavetz's question from the Zohar: Eisav was not in front of Yaakov. The Ban Yehoyada says that the gemaros that seem to imply that it is better to daven with the name of someone is for cases where one is davening for bracha for another. Another answer for klal yisroel davening for Hash-m to help them defeat the Kna'anim could be that to say the WRONG name is bad, but say stam is ok.)
This whole topic seems to be specific to tefillah and how precise one needs to be, but it got me thinking about two Lashon Hara questions.
Is it Lashon Hara to show a video of a Jewish person doing something wrong? I and the person I would show the video to do not know the person at all. Although, what defines "knowing who it is?" Maybe seeing what he looks like and hearing his voice is enough? or maybe it goes by if I will ever encounter him and think of him differently?
Question 2: Is it lashon hara to say something bad about someone with an online identity? (For example: many people who post or comment online go by nicknames "Puppa bar Abba" eg) It is probably asur to say something bad about this person in a public post because someone might know who he actually is, but let's say you know that the person you want to say it to will also not know who he is. What defines "knowing a person?" he is a known identity, we just don't know what he looks like or sounds like. Is this considered talking about a "person?"
If you can please quote all the sources that you find about this, that would be amazing! Thank you so much!
Avraham Halpern, Queens, NY USA
Shalom R' Avraham,
It's great to hear from you! You astutely pointed out two significant considerations. First, this is not the classic case in which the person being spoken about is totally anonymous. Rather, as you explained, in some sense the person's identity is already "known": in the first case, through his appearance on the video; in the second case, through his pseudonym. Second, people may eventually discover the full identity of the indvidual being spoken about.
Besides Lashon ha'Ra, additional considerations would be:
1) To'eles. At times sharing information may be permitted or even necessary in order to prevent harm coming to other people.
2) Kavod ha'Briyos, Do not curse the deaf. How does the person being spoken about feel when he realizes that others are disparaging him?
3) Nezek. Will the online user suffer damage in terms of his reputation and success within the internet platform where people know his pseudonym?
4) Judge your fellow righteously. Is there another way that the episode in the video could be interpreted more favorably? Many times a video camera captures only one angle of the story.
Some sources that might help research further:
1) Yerushalmi Peah 1:1. This discusses a case in which harm was caused to an individual, even though the speaker did not mention the individual by name, rather he mentioned the similar sounding name of a food, which instigated the listener to orchestrate harm against that individual.
2) Sefer Chafetz Chayim, Lashon ha'Ra 3:4 and Rechilus 1:9. These discuss a case where the name of the person being spoken about is not mentioned explicitly but the listener could figure out who it is.
3) Shu"t Chafetz Chayim 3:12. This seems to imply that when no name is mentioned, then there is no problem of Lashon ha'Ra.
4) Dirshu edition of Sefer Chafetz Chayim, pages 230-1 and 574-5. This compiles many sources which discuss this subject.
5) Ikrei Dinim Klal 3, note 1. This discusses other prohibitions besides Lashon ha'Ra per se which a person might violate when speaking negatively about an anonymous person.
6) She'eilas Rav 1:7:9. This discusses Rav Chayim Kanievsky's opinion permitting a case in which the speaker knows that the listener will not try to find out who the individual being spoken about is and l'Ma'aseh no individual was actually degraded as a result.
May you continue to attain greatness in Torah and Yir'as Shamayim!
Warmly,
Yishai Rasowsky
This is not a Psak Halachah.