AND

INSTITUTE FOR CONTINUING

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AT

TOURO COLLEGE

NATIONAL JEWISH INSTITUTE

FOR CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL

EDUCATION

CONFIDENTIALITY

MEDICINE, CULTURE AND

ETHICS

CONFIDENTIALITY

JEWISH SOURCES FOR CONFIDENTIALITY

You shall not go

around as a

gossipmonger amidst

your people.

You shall not stand by

the shedding of your

fellow’s blood. I am

the Lord.

You shall not hate your

brother in your heart.

– Leviticus 19:16–17

SPREADING GOSSIP

Who is a gossipmonger? One

who peddles tidbits from one

person to another, saying

“Mr. A said thus and so; I

heard such and such about

Mrs. B.” Even if it is true, it

destroys the world.

There is a more serious

wrongdoing included in this

prohibition: speaking

disparagingly about others,

even if speaking the truth.

Maimonides (1135-1204), Mishneh

Torah,

Laws of Temperaments 7:2

PEDDLING HIS WARES

rachil

Gossipmonger Peddler

THAT GOSSIP HAS FLOWN…

GOSSIP SPAWNS HATRED

You shall not

hate your

brother in your

heart.

– Leviticus 19:17

You shall not go

around as a

gossipmonger

amidst your

people.

– Leviticus 19:16

You shall not

stand by the

shedding of your

fellow’s blood. I

am the Lord.

– Leviticus 19:16

THE WORLD STANDS ON PEACE

IN EXTREME CASES

As a result of hate, the

earth and all its

inhabitants tremble.

Many times, the gossiper

puts a sword in the hand

of a person to kill a peer.

Rabbi Yonah of Gerona (circa 1200),

Sha’arei Teshuvah 3:222

DOEG SLANDERS ACHIMELECH

Saul slaughters the priests of

Nov

Doëg sees Achimelech giving David bread and a

sword

Doëg reports this to King

Saul

“GO AND TELL.”

“GO AND TELL.”

From whence do we know

that when a person tells

something to a friend that

it should not be repeated

until he is told “go and

tell”?

For it says, Leviticus 1:1,

“And God spoke to him

from the tent of meeting to

say.” – Talmud, Yoma 4b

A GOSSIPMONGER REVEALS SECRETS

but one that is trustworthy of spirit conceals a matter.

– Proverbs 11:13

A talebearer reveals secrets,

“A gossipmonger is one who reveals secrets—even those that he was commanded to keep secret and conceal.

But a trustworthy person not only conceals secrets, i.e. that which he was commanded to conceal, but even things heard by chance without being ordered to keep them secret.

The trustworthy person keeps them secret and conceals them because he understands and recognizes that there is a need for it to be kept secret.”

Rabbi Menachem Meiri (1249-1310), Chibur Hateshuvah 1:2

DIVERGENT VIEWS

Required only when there is a social contract

Request must be explicit

Request is implicit

Required for everyone

Jewish Ethics

Secular Ethics

Confidentiality