In Hebrew, “Lashon Hara” means evil speech, and carries a different weight than the idea of slander or defamation in English, or in our modern-day idea of such.

Here are some of the places and examples in the Hebrew scriptures where Lashon Hara is defined and prohibited:

Speech is considered to be lashon hara (detraction) if it says something negative about a person or party, is not seriously intended to correct or improve a negative situation, and is true. Statements that fit this description are considered to be lashon hara, regardless of the method of communication that is used, whether it is through face-to-face conversation, a letter, telephone, or email, or even body language.

By contrast, hotzaat shem ra (“spreading a bad name”) – also called hotzaat diba or motzi shem ra (lit. “putting out a bad name”) – consists of lies, and is best translated as “slander” or “defamation” (calumny). Hotzaat shem ra is an even graver sin than lashon hara per-se.

The act of gossiping is called rechilut, and is also forbidden by halakha.

• Leviticus 19
  • 11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.
  • 12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
  • 13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
  • 14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
  • 15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
  • 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life[a] of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
  • 17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.
  • 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19 contains the laws of “love your neighbor as yourself”, of which Jesus is certainly aware as he states it is one of the greatest commandments. In doing so, Leviticus 19 brings part of the laws against evil speech, some of which are listed above. Specifically v.19 mentions slander, however the idea of not lying or dealing falsely, or not oppressing someone or robbing him may also fall under certain types of defamation, and “…you shall not stand up against the life[a] of your neighbor;…” etc.

• Leviticus 25:17
  • 17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God.
  • h.ולא תונו איש את עמיתו YOU SHALL NOT WRONG ONE ANOTHER — Here Scripture warns against vexing by words (wounding a person’s feelings) — that one should not annoy his fellow-man, nor give him an advice which is unfitted for him, but is in accordance with the plan and the advantage of the adviser. But lest you should say, “Who knows whether I had any intention to do him evil?” Scripture therefore states: “but thou shalt fear thy God”! — He Who knows men’s thoughts, He knows it! In all cases where it is a matter of conscience (more lit., a matter handed over to the heart), when no one knows the truth except the one who has the thought in his heart, Scripture always states: “but be afraid of thy God”! (Sifra, Behar, Chapter 4 1-2; Bava Metzia 58b; cf. also Rashi on Leviticus 19:14.)
    • Even if the C. does not hold rashi's interpretation on this verse, the interpretation of 19:14 should be clear, so this should be admitted.
    • To wit, Sforno explains, “the reason this is repeated so many times is to warn you that you must not even misrepresent by words and thereby treat your customer unfairly. Even if the damage caused is not measurable in terms of money, all manner of misrepresentation is forbidden.”
      • If it is still not held, explain via Or HaChaim; “Baba Metzia 58 explains that our verse discusses אונאת דברים, “verbal wrongs.” The plain meaning of the verse is that seeing the Torah had already issued a similarly phrased commandment in verse 14, and we had explained that commandment as applicable when overcharging for chattels, we could have thought that overcharging for land was permitted. The Torah therefore had to repeat this commandment in connection with land sales so that the reader would not err and assume it is permitted to overcharge on land. The verse therefore concludes with the exhortation: “you shall fear your G'd,” telling us that although the normal legislation against overcharging does not have a legal effect when the sale of real estate is involved, this is so only in connection with land sales in the rest of the world and to members of society at large (Gentiles). ”
      • IN SHORT, one may not say that because the Torah here does not specifically mention 'speech' that speech is not covered, because we are already aware of the prohibition against evil speech (in the manner we are still aware that there is a prohibition against one type of false sale; we are thus prohibited from playing semantic games with the passage in order to find a loophole because God is the judge of these matters and not humans (see Ezekiel 18:21-32) “are my ways not just?”). Therefore, the passage applies to evil speech intended to deceive, or not to deceive, in the case of a sale, and therefore, in the general case as well.

Further;

• Psalm 34:14
  • 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
  • 14 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

• Exodus 22:27
  • h.כז אֱלֹהִים, לֹא תְקַלֵּל; וְנָשִׂיא בְעַמְּךָ, לֹא תָאֹר.
  • Thou shalt not revile God, nor curse a ruler of thy people.
    • This is referred to in two specific laws, No. 69 and No. 70 in Canonical (Maimonides) order, namely:
      • 69. Ex. 22:27 — Not to curse judges
      • 70. Ex. 22:27 — Not to curse the head of state or leader of the Sanhedrin

In Jewish law, all things are considered to be secret unless a person specifically says otherwise. For this reason, you will note that in the Torah, G-d constantly says to Moses, “Speak to the Children of Israel, saying:” or “Speak to the Children of Israel and tell them:” If G-d did not specifically say this to Moses, Moses would be forbidden to repeat his words! Nor is there any time-limit on secrets. The Talmud tells the story of a student who revealed a secret that he had heard 22 years earlier, and he was immediately banished from the house of study! (Talmud Sanhedrin 31a)

Further to the above, here are some commonly-used examples of behavior that is forbidden by this mitzvah:

• You may not call a person by a derogatory nickname, or by any other embarrassing name, even if he is used to it.
• You may not ask an uneducated person for an opinion on a scholarly matter (that would draw attention to his lack of knowledge or education).
• You may not ask a merchant how much he would sell something for if you have no intention of buying.
• You may not refer someone to another person for assistance when you know the other person cannot help (in other words, it's a violation of Jewish law to give someone the run-around!).
• You may not deceive a person, even if no harm is done by the deception; for example, you may not sell non-kosher meat to a non-Jew telling him that it is kosher, even though no harm is done to the non-Jew by this deception.
• You may not sell a person damaged goods without identifying the damage, even if the price you give is fair for the goods in their damaged condition.
• You may not offer a person a gift or invite a person to dinner if you know that the person will not accept.
• You may not compliment a person if you do not mean it.

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.Matthew 23:1-7 (NIV)

Given the above, we find that Jesus may have broken the laws of Lashon Hara. However, the standard issue response is to point out that there are in fact cases where Lashon Hara is not considered a sin. For example, you are allowed to reveal information if someone is entering into a relationship that he would not enter if he knew certain information. Such as if a prospective business partner is untrustworthy, or that a prospective spouse has a disease. So on the surface this standard Christian answer would seem to apply; if Jesus said they were misbehaving then they were misbehaving. Yet this exception is subject to significant and complex limitations. Here these limitations clearly apply because Jesus is not warning them not to enter a relationship with the Rabbis, in fact he says the opposite and in v.3 admonishes the people not just to follow them but to be careful that they follow and do everything they tell you to do. Therefore, the following statements in v. 4 to 7 is lashon hara.

By repeatedly communicating so, lashon hara became an integral part of this person, and his/her sins are far more severe, because this person regularly creates a chillul Hashem, a “desecration of the name of HaShem” (Leviticus 22:32).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lashon_hara

It is a violation of this mitzvah to say anything about another person, even it is true, even if it is not negative, even if it is not secret, even if it hurts no one, even if the person himself would tell the same thing if asked.

The story of Do'eig the Edomite (I Samuel Chs. 21-22) is often used to illustrate the harm that can be done by tale-bearing. Do'eig saw Achimelekh the Kohein give David bread and a sword, a completely innocent act intended to aid a leading member of Saul's court. Do'eig reported this to Saul. Do'eig's story was completely true, not negative, not secret, and Achimelekh would have told Saul exactly the same thing if asked (in fact, he did so later). Yet Saul misinterpreted this tale as proof that Achimelekh was supporting David in a rebellion, and proceeded to slaughter all but one of the kohanim at Nob.

The person who listens to gossip is even worse than the person who tells it, because no harm could be done by gossip if no one listened to it. It has been said that lashon ha-ra (disparaging speech) kills three: the person who speaks it, the person who hears it, and the person about whom it is told. (Talmud Arachin 15b).

Even if we assume Jesus had the best intentions and that in this specific case, despite having told people that they should follow the Rabbis, he somehow needed to warn them specifically to not do “as they do”, there are still further specific restrictions on Lashon Hara that would need to be observed; for example, over and above the normal laws on Lashon hara, there are specific prohibitions in the law against cursing judges or rulers:

• Exodus 22:27,28
  • h.כז אֱלֹהִים, לֹא תְקַלֵּל; וְנָשִׂיא בְעַמְּךָ, לֹא תָאֹר.
  • Thou shalt not revile elohim, nor curse a ruler of thy people.

This is referred to in two specific laws, No. 69 and No. 70 in Canonical (Maimonides) order, namely:

• 69. Ex. 22:28 — Not to curse judges
• 70. Ex. 22:28 — Not to curse the head of state or leader of the Sanhedrin

The baraita elaborates: The defining characteristic of a judge is not like the defining characteristic of a king, as with regard to a judge, you are commanded with regard to obeying his halakhic ruling.Sanhedrin 66a Sefaria.org

Therefore by going against the Chazal and cursing the judges in this manner we conclude Jesus broke the laws of lashon hara.

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.John 8:44

It has to be pointed out the severity of this charge. In Acts 13:10 Paul states of a rabbi, who is turning people away from the Christian faith:

• Acts 13:10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?”

Rick Strelan writes,

…the identification as magos could mean little more than that Bar Jesus was associated with the court of the proconsulas a religious adviser, a position some Jews are known to have held (6). Josephus makes the specific Jew-magos link when referring to a certain Simon, co-incidentally also a Cypriot, and one who, like Bar-Jesus, had friends in the Roman consular system (Antiquities 20.7.2). In addition, the role and function of a magos and those of a rabbi, at least in later times, were not at all dissimilar. Both were ‘holy men’, both were men of power and special knowledge, both were involved indecision-making within their respective communities (7). However, for Luke, the point of the term seems to be that Bar-Jesus, despite his name, certainly does not belong to Jesus, but is an outsider, having a foreign, and therefore invalid, source of authority. The term is used in 13,6 is to characterize Bar Jesus as a serious opponent of Paul.

(6) Joseph, Daniel, and Ahikar are well-known examples of Jews holding such positions. Compare also Josephus, Antiquities. 8.2.5; 20.7.2.

(7) See J. NEUSNER, “Rabbi and Magus in Third-Century Sasanian Babylonia”, History of Religions 6 (1966/7) 169-178

Who was Bar-jesus? (Acts 13)
by Rick Strelan of the University of Queensland
https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_69002/UQ69002_OA.pdf

Therefore we see here that the idea of New Testament writers in calling someone a child of the devil is to place the source of their authority away from God the father. This is not news; but in the previous section we have already seen that Jesus has advised the Jewish people that their source of authority is Moses. Thus here Jesus is not trying to state that they do not have authority over the Jewish people.

In a similar sense we see in John 6:70, where Jesus says “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” But during this time it is clear Judas was not a devil, because we read later in John 13:27 that Judas did not become a traitor until that moment; “13:27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”” This is confirmed by Luke who writes “Judas, who became a traitor”, or even from 6:70 where Jesus says “Did I not choose you, …” Therefore what is the purpose of Jesus saying that the Rabbis are the sons of satan in John 8:44?

In John 8:37 Jesus states:

• 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

This makes it all the more striking when he says, and they respond:

• 39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,
• 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
• 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”

The idea here is that since Jesus has already admitted that Abraham was their father, and thus they are in the Abrahamic covenant as well as the covenant at Mt. Sinai, then due to the Soverignity of God (ex. Isaiah 46:10; Isaiah 44:26; Isaiah 44:28; Psalm 33:11; Proverbs 19:21; Hebrews 6:17), it appears as if Jesus is claiming they have two fathers. But, in v.42,

• 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
• 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
• 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.
• He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
• 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
• 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
• 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Here Jesus is making the case that the proof they are children of the devil and not of God in the sense that they are of the nation of Israel, is because they do not understand what Jesus is telling them. This is a confirmation of what he said earlier in v.37 “…you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.”

Well, what are the words that they did not hear? What words did not find a place in them? We can see this directly from the passage beforehand:

• 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
• 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”
• 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
• 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father[a] who sent me.
• 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.
• 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
• 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

By this point, also considering John 8:1-11, or even passages in John 7 such as 7:25 where the rumors of Jesus being the Christ were spreading throughout the people, it becomes obvious then that the charge the Pharisees were bringing is that it was merely Jesus' claim that he was a messiah or even “The Messiah”, and that he had no proof for that claim. His response is that he Father, God, also bears witness about him. This is why they asked “where is your Father?” – although some interpret “We are not born of sexual immorality” and “where is your father” to point out the well known fact that Jesus was considered a mamzer in his community, the plain and simple reading is to ask for clarification on exactly how the Father had vouched for Jesus. His response is that they didn't know the father. This sort of non-answer would only confirm the idea that the father did not vouch for Jesus being the messiah. But the truly dangerous thing about speaking in this way is found to be the same as in the previous part;

By repeatedly (speaking in this way), lashon hara became an integral part of (Jesus), and his sin becomes more severe because this person regularly creates a chillul Hashem, a “desecration of the name of HaShem” (Leviticus 22:32).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lashon_hara

In this case Jesus has created a hatred of the Jews and their culture as many christians really believe that they are “Children of the Devil” despite Jesus' clear statements on the matter and the typical use of this phrase in a sort of idiomatic way by New Testament Writers. It has done far more harm than good. Thus we see again that Jesus has broken the laws of Lashon Hara, both by the letter of the law and by the proof in the pudding.

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In Matthew 23, Jesus says that no one among his followers should be called 'Rabbi', violating the commandment to follow the judges;

• Matthew 23:8
  • “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.

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