When people spoke badly about the Bais Yosef, the malach that regularly came to learn with him told him (Magid Meisharim, Parshas Vayakhel), “Don’t worry about them. They aren’t hurting you; rather, they are helping you because when someone speaks lashon hara about his friend, he loses his mitzvos and they are given to the one he spoke about.”
He concluded, “This is 100% fact. If people would know this, they would rejoice when they hear that people are speaking badly about them and would feel like those people are giving them gold and silver.”
In this vein, the Shlah Hakadosh (Shaar HaOsiyos 210) explains the words Dovid Hamelech said after he was cursed by Shimi ben Geira (2 Shmuel 16:11): “Let him curse. For Hashem told him to. Perhaps Hashem will see in my eyes and Hashem will repay me with good in exchange for his curse on this day.” What did Dovid mean when he said that Hashem would repay him with good in exchange for the curse? He was saying that all of Shimi’s good deeds and mitzvos would be given to him, as when one speaks bad of someone else, all of his merits are given to that person.
Shlomo Hamelech says (Mishlei 17:28) that even a foolish person who remains silent is considered to be a wise man. The Chofetz Chaim zt”l explains that even if the one spoken badly about is an ignorant person who has never studied Torah and the one who spoke badly of him is a Torah scholar, all of the talmid chochom’s mitzvos are taken from him and given to the am ha’aretz. Now, the unlearned, foolish man is considered to be a talmid chochom when he goes to Olam Haba. However, this is only true if he remains silent when he is shamed and does not answer back. If he does, he gets the reward for all of the talmid chochom’s mitzvos.
The chasid Rav Mordechai of Rakov zt”l served as the badchan in the court of the Chozeh of Lublin zy”a. One day, he was standing in the bais medrash and describing to the chasidim how the Chozeh recites Tikun Chatzos with copious tears every night. The Chozeh walked in at that moment and heard what he was saying. He cried out, “Nu! Lashon Hara!”
Rav Mordechai asked in surprise, “How is this lashon hara? I was just describing how the Rebbe serves Hashem? What’s wrong with that?”
The Chozeh replied, “If a person does a mitzvah in private and it is publicized in public, it is transformed into an aveirah because it leads to gaivoh. Therefore, you are guilty of speaking lashon hara.”
Rav Mordechai answered in jest, “That was my intention. The Chovos Halevavos says that when someone speaks lashon hara, he gets the aveiros of the one he spoke about. I wanted the Rebbe’s Tikkun Chatzos to become an aveirah so that I would get it.”
