There are two reason why you can’t speak lashon hara about someone who has bad character traits, whether it is anger, haughtiness, etc. (1) Either because he might have felt bad and repented after he expressed his bad character like acting out of anger or (2) even if he clearly doesn’t regret the way he act and you see him act in the negative way all the time it’s possible he doesn’t realize the severity of the problem. There are so many complex variables who, when what, where of how to deal with ones feelings that they are very hard to control, also people who are even Torah observant don’t realize how important it is to constantly be working on our character therefore there is no excuse to speak Lisbon hara about a person who you see with character flaws. Even when the Gemara in Tania 7a says one is allowed to call a person who is brazen and chutzpadik, a bad person, that is only for that bad trait but even then you can’t be so quick to judge who has chutzpah and can be called bad because you have to first fully understand the problem of having chutzpah and delineate whether that person has enough chutzpah if any to be called a bad person. There is one other gray area, a trait which really isn’t bad but other people might take it negatively or might start to talk badly of the guy based on what you said. For example being strict is not a bad attribute, we find that Beis Shammai was stricter for the sake of the honor of Torah than Beis Hillel was. That does not mean they were wrong they just had a different outlook in life of how to act. See also Rav Yisrael Salanter’s letter 28 in Ohr Yisrael about this concept. So to call a person strict is not lashon hara unless stated in a negative context. However one should be careful who they speak to when they say someone is strict because it might be placing a stumbling block before the blind for someone might say, ‘you know him now but I remember him when he had terrible anger management problems’ so depending on who you talk to what you say might lead to lashon hara so you have to be careful, just like you have to be careful in front of whine you praise others because the listeners might start talking lashon hara about who you praise. It’s never good to overly praise someone because it will prompt others to find faults on that person.
CITE Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 4 halacha 8
If a person refuses to listen to a Jewish court verdict to do a mitzvah or to stop doing a sin the court has a right to publicize the matter and record it in official records for future future generations to see as long as the court assess he is just making up excuses of why he refuses to follow the verdict. But if the court is unsure whether he has a plausible excuse or. It then they shouldn’t publicize his refusal to listen to them.
Similarly we find in the Gemara Yoma 38a in the Mishna there, “And these are mentioned for censure: Those of the House of Garmu did not want to teach others the proper production of the Showbread. Those of the House of Avtinas did not want to teach others the proper means of production for the incense. Hugras , a Levite, knew a special musical method but did not want to teach it. Ben Kamtzar did not want to teach his special method of writing. Concerning the first ones mentioned in the previous Mishna on 37a it is said “The mention of a righteous one is for blessing,” and concerning these it is said, at the end of the verse, “And the name of the wicked will rot” (Mishlei 10:7). The sages in that generation had warned them that they should share their secret talents with others to be sure they would not be lost but they refused to listen without any good excuse therefore the Mishna writes they are cursed, all the more people who refuse to listen to the courts to actually fulfill mitzvos or to not listen can be publicized for their wrong doing and written in the records.
However when the Rishonim say we are not allowed to speak lashon hara about people who don’t fulfill mitzvos or who sin even if it is true that is in two possible scenarios:
A. Either he didn’t realize how severe of a problem it is to do the sin he did or to not fulfill the mitzvah he ignored, or
B. Even if they understand the consequences sometimes the evil inclination gets the better of them and convinces people to transgress the word of G-D but afterwards most likely they regret what they have done and repent, therefore one may not speak any lashon hara about them. But people who have been warned to not repeat a transgression especially if warned by the court has no excuse that they don’t understand what they are doing wrong and if they refuse to change then it’s obviously not just the evil inclination overcoming his will to do good in the moment therefore it is permissible to speak out against him to be sure people stay away from him and not learn from his wrongdoings.
Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 4, halacha 7, footnotes 31 & 32
Footnote 31: When the Chofetz Chaim says you are allowed to speaking badly about someone who is purposely sinning and refuses to listen to rebuke that is only if someone influential who is worth listening to and can be trusted rebuked him or if you showed him in an authoritative halachic Sefer that what he is doing is wrong. But if you aren’t influential enough, even if your rebuke is true that doesn’t give you license to speak lashon hara because maybe he just didn’t believe you and thought you were wrong. Rather you should just tell a figure of authority let him deal with it and if the sinner still doesn’t listen then you can spread the word about how terrible this person.
Footnote 32: However there is five condition that must be met before talking slanderously about a person who you know always purposely does a sin which people know is wrong, however if this person is one who threw off the yoke of Heaven and just doesn’t care then you don’t have to meet these five conditions:
1. You have to have seen the sin your self or everyone in town knows about this guy’s bad deeds.
2. The sin you saw him do either had to be black and white wrong or one must thoughrally check into the matter to be sure he did something wrong before spreading slander about him.
3. Don’t exaggerate.
4. Your intentions should be altruistic for the good of society to keep them away from evil, no ulterior motives like just hating the guy, making yourself famous, rather just spread the word for the sake of truth.
5. You can’t slander him behind his back but flatter him to his face unless you are afraid he will hurt you then you can spread the word in private individually as long as your intentions are for the sake of Heaven, sanctifying Hashem’s Name.
Sefer Chofetz Chaim Chapter 4 halacha 7 with foot note 30
The Chofetz Chaim says that until now we were talking about a person who will regret the wrong he did, because his evil inclination just over cane him, maybe it will take a little force like the court, relatives, or his rabbi, to get him to realize his wrong doing and repent but if he is one who has knowingly and decisively decided to throw away the yoke of Heaven and purposefully does not keep Torah and mitzvos or is someone who on purpose without any remorse, repeatedly doing a sin knowing it is wrong and maybe if he was told to stop he totally ignores it. This type of person even if he is not known to others as being evil but you know his character, the Chofetz Chaim says you are allowed to tell other about the sin you saw him do even if that isn’t the sin he normally transgresses. Even if others don’t know yet that he is evil it might even be a mitzvah to publicize his evil and disposable ways and you shouldn’t worry that others will suspect you of slandering someone, in order to be sure no one will follow in his path, because if you are speaking for the sake of Heaven with sincerity then the truth comes out and people will believe you. This also avoids a chilul Hashem for two fold, one people won’t learn from this bad person’s actions and two of something bad happens to the sinner people won’t question Hashem why such a terrible thing happened to him since they’ll know he is evil. However people who listen to this report cannot decisively believe what he is saying unless it is known that this guy is evil, but they should be suspicious until they verify the matter.
Sefer Chofetz Chaim Chapter 4, halacha 5, note 25-28 and halacha 6
Note 25: Though the Chofetz Chaim said that when the court reprimands a person that committed a severe sin once they should do it in private and in a fashion that won’t embarrass the guy however he elaborated here that if the guy won’t easily listen or if the sin was public and everyone knows about it and might do the same then the Jewish court has a right to take things into their own hands and use him as an example to dissuade others from committing the same thing or give him lashes to be sure he will stop doing the sin himself.
Note 26: Though the court can’t accept one witness’s testimony for it is considered lashon hara if not said with another witness and they don’t have to rebuke the would be sinner, however if they somehow verified that the he did actually sin then they certainly should rebuke him.
Note 27, 28: In the end of the halacha we said that the person who saw someone do a severe sin can tell the sinner’s rabbi or rebbe as long as he believes him like two witnesses and the rabbi is a secretive and modest person who wouldn’t tell anyone else about it. Then the Rabbi can “hate” the sinner for what he did even if you don’t think he will do it again, until he has proven that he has repented then we assume that this type of rabbi when finding out that his student or congregant has repented or he helps him repent will love the repented sinner again and treat like everyone else as he was before the sin. He certainly won’t tell anyone else, which no one should believe him anyways even if he is a trusted rabbi since I’m this is all second hand coming from him and he only trust the guy who saw the sin first hand “like” two witnesses just to be extra cautious and to try to help the sinner mend his ways.
In halacha 6 the Chofetz Chaim says that even if the rabbi is a big talker but if you know if you don’t say anything to him and he is the only person the sinner will listen to them you are allowed to tell the rabbi in order so that the sinner will stop doing the sin if you have indications that he is ready and willing to do the sin again. This is permissible because you are doing this for the sake of Heaven to stop sin in the world. You certainly can’t tell anyone else because you have not actually seen him sin again even if you saw the sin with someone else, to be two witnesses and you know he would do it again, but as long as you have not seen him do it again or really for multiple times he is still included in the verse of “your nation” which one cannot speak lashon hara to anyone about.
Sefer Chofetz Chaim Chapter 4 Halacha 5 part 1 with note 23, 24
If you know the person you saw do an outlandish sin that everyone knows is wrong would not listen to your rebuke because he is foolish and a scoffer, and it’s very possible he will do the sin again then it is permissible to tell the court if you can bring another witness that saw it to testify with him so that the court will privately take the proper initiative to stop him from sinning again. If you are only one witness you can’t tell the court because the Torah says courts only accept to witnesses, one witness constitutes lashon hara since the court can’t believe you. However an individual can go to the sinner’s relatives and tell him what he did assuming they will believe as if he is two witnesses and do something about it. All this is possible because sin disrupts the wellbeing nature of the world and must be minimized as much as possible however one can only tell if he is doing purely for the sake of Heaven, to be zealous for the sake of sanctifying Hashem’s Holy Name in the world but if he has ulterior motives like he has some grudge against the sinner then it will be held against him. Even though he should divulge the information anyway in order to stop the guy from sinning more but Hashem will hold the speaker accountable for his ulterior motives. However one has to be extremely careful before telling a relative, to be sure he will accept what you are saying and try to help because there are many times when relatives don’t believe negative reports about their relatives which can lead to major arguments and fighting that is not worth it for the sake of peace. We see from here that keeping the peace is more important for the world than trying to stop others from sin. One other option is to tell the sinner’s Rav or Rebbe again assuming they will believe you like two witnesses and will keep it private. They are allowed to hate the guy and gently reprimand until he changes his ways.
Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 4 part 3 of halacha 4
In terms of a sage who is G-d fearing one certainly cannot divulge to anyone an obvious sin that you saw him do or even think ill of him because without a doubt he realized he did something wrong, had deep bitter remorse and has repented. The Sefer Yad Hakatana goes so far as to say that you cannot even rebuke him which the Chofetz Chaim qualifies that’s only could be true on the day after but there still is a mitzvah even for a student to rebuke his Rebbe respectfully at the time he sees him do something wrong. Also if it was a sin of monetary matters one can rebuke a G-d fearing sage until he gives back the money. However the Chofetz Chaim doesn’t understand why the Yad HaKetana says there is no mitzvah to rebuke because granted we have to judge him favorably but we wouldn’t say he is able to testify as a witness if he would have committed a sin wish would invalidate him from testifying until the judges know for sure that he repented, assuming isn’t enough when it comes to testimony and it assuming should just remove a positive mitzvah of rebuke.
The Chofetz Chaim in his note at the end of halacha 4 says that up until now we are dealing with transgressions that if told to anyone had no ramifications in this day and age. However in a case of a woman who committed adultery one must tell the husband because the husband is forbidden to stay married to her. However you only have a right to tell the husband if you saw the act firsthand not by hearsay. Also you can only tell him if he will believe you like two witnesses and separate himself from his wife. You can’t even tell him who the adulterer is because there is no point in telling the husband, therefore it is lashon hara unless divulging the name will convince him to separate from his wife. Other than that, if the husband won’t listen to you or anyone else then you can’t even tell the court of what you saw because they can’t do anything about it if the husband won’t believe anyone.
Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 4, part 2 of halacha 4
The Chofetz Chaim quotes Rabbeinu Yona in his Shaarei Teshuva (219) that a person ideally should not even tell a Jewish court even if he testifies with another witness about someone else’s wrong doing if there is nothing that could be done about it. Rather the one who saw the wrong doing should go over to the transgressor and gently reprimand him in a fashion where it is likely that he will listen to you and try not to commit the sin again. There are circumstances where one should tell a Jewish court of wrongdoing like I’m circumstances where the court can take action to fix the problem, for example a robbery, any other monetary issue or injuries that could be compensated for. However because nowadays the Jewish courts cannot give Torah level lashes or capital punishment then transgresses line incense, or eating pig and shellfish or the like which doesn’t affect anyone else besides sinning against Hashem should certainly not be told to anyone in particular, that would constitute lashon hara/slander but even to inform the courts ideally is not good because we should assume this guy who is a middle of the road guy not necessarily very righteous but not a very bad person who purposely spited G-d, had remorse for his bad deed and hopefully repented. However the Chofetz Chaim does say there is one benefit that could be had by informing the court, in court as official testimony, but not just informing a judge outside of court which is no different than telling anyone else, that is if he did transgress a sin which most Jews no to be wrong then he is invalid to testify as a witness or to swear in court therefore if the court is informed of this person’s misdeeds they know not to accept him as a witness until they know for a fact that he has repented. Other than in court where it is official no one can believe he definitely did the sinful act if they heard about it second hand but they can only suspect misdeed.
Sefer Chofetz Chaim Chapter 4 first part of Halacha 4
If a person who is not so righteous but not so bad, in the middle, most of the time doing the right thing and you know he did something really bad that everyone knows is a sin, for example he ate non-kosher food like pig or shellfish. Or even if he did a sin not so famous but you warned him not to do it and he did it anyway. You are forbidden to tell anyone what he did because it’s possible he did teshuva and truly regretted what he did. Only if he is constantly transgressing the sin the circumstance might be different and we’ll learn more about that in halacha 7. If you do reveal it to someone else it’s considered a various grievous sin of lashon hara if said behind his back and if said to his face in front of a crowd the person has embarrassed him and therefore might not have any share in the World To Come assuming the sinner did repent. The Chofetz Chaim elaborates in the Be’er Mayim Chaim note 14 that though there is a status in the Torah of someone you are allowed to hate if you saw he did a sin that does not mean you can speak lashon hara because he is still considered part of “your nation” so though he is not considered “your brother” which allows you to hate him as long as you don’t know for sure that he did teshuva since the Chofetz Chaim says that the main part of repentance is regret in one’s heart which only G-d really knows about. But you still have to rebuke anyone part of your nation nicely in private therefore you cannot embarrass and denigrate him in public. If a person does hear lashon hara of this sort he can be cautious but may not accept it as fact, even if two people would tell him unless convicted in official Jewish court.
Sefer Chofetz Chaim Chapter 4 second half of halacha 2 and Halacha 3
The Chofetz Chaim concluded halacha 2 saying that one can also not speak lashon hara about one who is lacks in even branches of a mitzvah, meaning he keeps part of a mitzvah, for example if a person is frugal with his money and does not honor the Shabbos to the best of his ability like if he can wear nicer clothes for Shabbos or more delicacies at his Shabbos table and just doesn’t do so because he’s too cheap to buy them. You can’t tell anyone this even if you have firsthand knowledge. Also if one is lacks in rabbinic mitzvahs, whether they are fences to stop one from sinning like muktza or decrees like lighting the menora on Chanukah or even if they are seemingly minor rabbinic enactments like how to tie one’s shoe or how to cut your nails, which are both discussed in the Shulchan Aruch, it still constitutes lashon hara to tell others about his wrong doing. However if he doesn’t care about the rabbis and has an attitude that there is no need to keep rabbinic mitzvos then this is a different situation which Rava refers to these type of people as sinners in Shabbos 40a and one who is not only not holy but also an evil person, in Yevamos 20a, in that case there is a mitzvah to speak out against him.
Halacha 3 reiterated that there are a lot of details that must be taken into account when seeing someone do something that he is not supposed to be doing halachically. If he is the average Jew like most of us are who usually is careful about sinning but sometimes transgresses then there is a mitzvah to judge him favorably that he did it unintentionally or didn’t know it is forbidden, or just thought it was a restriction, or nice thing to do which only the righteous are careful in and therefore it is forbidden to tell anyone the sin you saw or heard someone else transgress, even if two people saw it. You can’t even hate him because there is a mitzvah to judge him favorably. There are different halachos in terms of speaking lashon hara and having that person allowed to be a witness. But one has to judge him favorably even if it is a sin people know is a problem, or even assume it was intentional though many people are lacks in the matter, even if the person transgresses it many times. However if he is assumed to be doing a certain sin all the time then the Halacha might change and will be discussed later in halacha 7.