Rambam on Rebuking Your Fellow

You told him to stop violating Shabbat. You told him to stop stealing. And he didn't listen. He continues. Then you are allowed then he may be put to shame in public. And his sin may be publicized. And he may be subject to abuse, scorn, and curses until he does chuvah. The Rambam in Hilchot De'ot Halacha six says when one person wrongs another the latter should not remain silent and despise him in his heart. Somebody did something wrong. You can't keep it in your heart. Don't keep it in your heart. Why? This could be turned into something much, much worse. In Sefer Hamitzvot, the Rambam describes these types of hatred in your heart as more severe than anything else. Why? Cuz it continues to build. Cuz as long as it stays in your heart, you can't fix it. No one knows. Eventually you explode and it becomes a disaster. In Halacha seven says it's a mitzvah for a person who sees that his fellow Jew has sinned or is following an improper path to rebuke him, to correct his behavior. To inform him that he's causing himself a loss by his own evil deeds. As we learn from Leviticus 19:17, "Ocheach tochiach et amitecha." You shall surely admonish your colleague. So it's a Halacha, the Rambam specifically says it that you must that's from the Torah, 613 mitzvot, you must rebuke your brother. You see him sinning, you must rebuke him. Fine. So here we see that this is not just a figment of my imagination. This is obviously a mitzvah in the Torah. Now as we continue in this Halacha it says the following. How should you rebuke him? First rebuke him privately. Rebuke him by speaking to him patiently and gently. Informing him that he is only making these statements for his colleague's own welfare. To allow him to have a merit in Olam Haba. You say it to him nicely. And try to tell him, "Listen, this is for your own good." The Magen Avraham explains that this is only if this person made a private sin. Meaning you saw him make a sin on his own. No one else is affected by it. But if the person sees another person making a public sin, like speaking in shul like we talked about before he must rebuke him immediately in order to prevent the chillul Hashem a desecration of God's name. Now if he accepts the rebuke, the Rambam continues it's good. If not then one should rebuke him a second time and a third time. And indeed continue because he's obligated to rebuke his colleague who does wrong until this colleague of his either strikes him and tells him, "I'm not going to listen." Until he hits you. Up to how many times? The Rambam says in Hilchot Teshuvah 100 times. And some say unlimited. Now whoever has the possibility of rebuking sinners and fails to do so, someone sees another person violating Shabbat, no one's saying anything. He's a rabbi, tells him where to park instead of telling him that he should do chuvah. Someone who sees another person sinning and doesn't rebuke him he is now responsible for that sin. Source, Gemara Masechet Shabbat page 54b and also Masechet Sanhedrin 93a. The Rambam says for he had taken the opportunity to rebuke the sinner. Meaning that now the sin is not only on the sinner, it's also on the one who didn't rebuke. Why is this considered so awful? Because watching a sinner continue to sin is one of four things that the Rambam says in Hilchot Teshuvah chapter four Halacha one is one of four things that Hashem gets angry about to a point where he does not allow the person that did not rebuke do chuvah. There's four conditions. One of them is machti et harabim, being causing other people to sin. Another one is actually letting other people sin and not rebuke them. The first person who admonishes a colleague should not speak to him harshly until he becomes embarrassed. And he gives you some sources from Leviticus. But from this we learn that it's forbidden for a person to embarrass a fellow Jew. Meaning you shouldn't embarrass him for no reason. Unless unless this no embarrassment part only applies when there's matter between one man and another. But when it comes to spiritual matters meaning someone is it's beyond the private. If the transgressor does not repent after being admonished in private. You told him to stop talking in shul. You told him to stop violating Shabbat. You told him to stop stealing. And he didn't listen. He continues. Then you are allowed then he may be put to shame in public. And his sin may be publicized. And he may be subject to abuse, scorn, and curses until he does chuvah. As was the practice of all the prophets of Am Yisrael. All of the prophets of Am Yisrael, all the nevi'im in Am Yisrael if they had to get to that level, that's what they would do. So this whole issue of no, listen, you shouldn't embarrass people because it's a you know, it's like murder, it's like this, it's like that. Yes, but if it when it's for their own good and they just don't know it if push comes to shove, you have to do it. So the point is that obviously we don't want to get to that point. We don't want to embarrass anyone in public. We don't want to embarrass anyone, period. But right now we're at a such a horrible stage such a horrible stage that we're around the corner from Mashiach. He's literally going to arrive any day, any year, any time. And no one's ready. As much as I would love to wish for the Mashiach to come tomorrow, honestly, I say chash v'shalom. Because if he came now, we'd be in the worse shape than we were in Egypt. Most people don't understand this. When Am Yisrael was saved from Egypt it wasn't all of them. It was only 20%. In some cases they say even less. Not all of Am Yisrael was was saved from the slavery of Egypt. The ones that didn't want to do chuvah, which were 80% or more Hashem killed them in the plague of darkness in the next week's parsha. strong lectures uh similar and different to the one that you heard tonight that are simply full of sources, honesty that's brutal but is effective. Tikunei Brit it helped countless people get closer to Hashem because for the first time in their life they heard that there are serious ramifications for their bad actions, whatever those bad actions are.