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And now we shall come to explain what many people stumble in. I will give one illustration, from which the intelligent reader will be able to deduce the parallels.

It is common for one to bring merchandise to the city to sell, and many buyers come to him. And it often happens that one who has no money with him at the time chooses merchandise and asks the seller not to sell it to another, for he is going to bring him the money. In the interim, other merchants come to him and implore him to sell them the merchandise that the first has selected, and he agrees. Afterwards, when the first returns and asks for the merchandise that he selected in the beginning, he answers: "Ploni came, and I did not want to give it to him, but he threw down the money and took it, and against my will, I took it, because I did not want to argue with him." In this case, the seller transgresses the absolute negative commandment of "You shall not go talebearing among your people." Even though a great wrong was committed by the one who implored him to give him the merchandise that the first had selected, still, since he sold it to him and received the money from him, it is certainly a valid sale and no good will come of his revealing the implorer's name; but he will only be injecting hatred into his [the first one's] heart against him [the second], and this is absolute rechiluth (viz. Principle I, section 3.) And this din is similar in all its details to that of the aforementioned section 14.

How much more so [is this the din] in view of what we find very often, that the second did not implore him that much, and that the seller did not inform him that he had already committed himself to the other, and that it was only for his own good that he had sold him this merchandise, whatever his reason may have been. And so that the first buyer not have any complaint against him that he breaks his word, he removes the wrong from himself and imputes it to the other. Certainly, this is a very grave sin, in the category of motzi shem ra [spreading a false report], and there apply to it all the negative and positive commandments that we explained in the introduction.

And he must take great heed in such an instance not to reveal the name of the second buyer who bought the merchandise, even if this seller wishes to take the wrong upon himself and say: "It was my mistake; he knew nothing about your having concluded with me first." For it is very common that even [if explained] in such a way, he injects hatred in his [the first buyer's] heart against the second buyer, thinking about him that he threatened his livelihood. Rather, the seller should answer him plainly: "I sold it to another by mistake."

And know that all we have written in this book about the great care that must be taken against the transgression of lashon hara applies only to one who is still in the category of "your fellow." But as to those people who deny the Torah of the L–rd, even only one letter [of it], and those who mock the words of Chazal, it is a mitzvah to publicize their deceitful views before all, and to demean them, so that others not learn from their evil deeds.