And now we shall explain, with the help of the L–rd, what we projected in the beginning, to detail how many arurin he who does not guard himself against this evil trait beings upon himself. (1) Aside from all the aforementioned negative and positive commandments, he transgresses (Devarim 27:24): "Cursed be he who smites his neighbor in secret," which refers to lashon hara, as we find in Sifrei and in Rashi's commentary on Chumash.

(2) He also transgresses (Devarim 27:18): "Cursed is he who misleads the blind man on the way," it being known that the intent of Scripture is to curse one who places a stumbling-block before another so that an issur be committed by him, as in the negative commandment (Vayikra 19:14): "And before the blind man do not place a stumbling-block," which we have already explained (Negative Commandments 4) as also falling into this category.

(3) And if (G–d forbid) this matter becomes hefker [inconsequential] to him, so that he does not take it upon himself to guard himself from it, he transgresses further a third arur (Devarim 27:26): "Cursed is he who does not fulfill the words of this Torah to do them," which is understood as his not accepting it upon himself to fulfill the entire Torah. And he is called a "mumar [heretic] in respect to one thing" because of this — gratuitously transgressing this grave issur, regarding this article of the Torah of the L–rd as hefker — being like any other "mumar in respect to the entire Torah." Therefore, his sin is too great to forgive. We have thus enumerated three arurin which are often attendant upon this evil trait.

(And if, G–d forbid, the lashon hara were against his father and mother, he also transgresses a fourth arur (Ibid 16): "Cursed is he who demeans his father and his mother," which we have already explained above (Positive Commandment 14) in the Mekor Hachaim and in the Be'er Mayim Chayim.)

The following Gemara (Shevuoth 36a) is well known: "'Arur' connotes 'curse,' 'banishment,' and 'oath,'" Therefore, everyone who knows himself to be remiss in this bitter sin, must fear for his soul, lest (G–d forbid) he be "banished" by Heaven because of this (as is written in Charedim regarding one who demeans his father and mother).

And yet other evils stem from the bitter sin of lashon hara, such as the base trait of cruelty and that of anger, which is a grave sin, as Chazal dilate upon in Shabbath (105b). And very often it leads to levity and to other evil traits of the kind. Therefore, form all the words of this introduction, from which we can understand the greatness of the harm wrought by lashon hara and rechiluth, the Torah has explicitly delineated this issur, assigning to it a distinct negative commandment (viz. Vayikra 19:16): "Do not go talebearing among your people" more than any of the other evil traits, as we have written in the beginning of our introduction; and the Introduction is hereby completed.

And I would ask my friend, the reader, to constantly read and reread this introduction, for it certainly is of greater avail for the future in this regard than anything else. For it is culled from the Rishonim, whose words are pure and holy, burning like flames. And, of a certainty, they have guarded themselves form this base trait to its very end, wherefore their words make a deep impress on the hearts of their readers. And let the reader also know that I have not selected the negative and positive commandments fortuitously, but I carefully probed and expounded the 613 mitzvoth, and much did I toil until the Holy One Blessed be He helped me find those [commandments] relevant to our subject.

And so that it not be cause for wonder in the eyes of the reader, since the issur of lashon hara is so great, as is that of verbal wronging, why do we find many times in the Gemara that one amora seems to be taunting his colleague. To this, too, I "opened my eyes," and because of this I copied the responsum of the Chavoth Yair that appears at the end of the book. And, in the book itself, I also resolved many [seemingly contradictory] citations, a little here, a little there.