Aligning Against a Friend
By Rabbi Nissan Telushkin OBM for COLlive and Hasidic Archives
Someone once came to Rabbi Moshe of Kobryn and complained about a friend that had strayed from the proper path.
Instead of rebuking the sinner, the righteous man responded that he, the friend, was the one who had transgressed.
He quoted, “Do not join hands with the guilty to act as a malicious witness (Exodus 23:1).”
Rabbi Moshe explained that when the presiding angel prosecutes a person in heaven, G-d responds, “A single witness may not validate against a person… only on the testimony of two witnesses.”
“You joined the prosecution,” he said, “becoming a malicious witness against the soul of your friend.”
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