שקר אין לו רגליים

With gratitude to Hashem I'm once again pleased to inform you of the fulfillment of the Talmudic dictum assuring us that "the work of the righteous will be done by others."

Even before I had the chance of posting a response to the so-called refutation posted by Yosel, he recanted and removed the post.

I will however still go ahead and post my response in the spirit of Lihagdil Torah Ulihadira.

Dear Yosel (Red Yid),

Let me preface my response by stating that the reason I tarried until this point in responding to you is because I was waiting for the fulfillment of the Talmudic dictum stated in my previous post that the work of the righteous is done through others.

So why, you ask, am I now indeed responding? Well, who am to regard myself greater than Yaakov Avinu who even he was mindful to the possibility of him losing his divine intervention due to sin (שמא יגרום החטא). As eloquently penned by Shlomo Hamelech in Koheles אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא (Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not).

You (Reb Yid) Wrote:

"My question to Shua is: Where did I write that you were the one to give Dovber the 1,288 votes?"

Let me redirect that question to you: Where did I write that the slander you were spreading about me was written by you in your post?

The argument you present here is a classical straw-man argument (google it) where you misrepresent your opponent's statement then go ahead and 'tear it apart' as if it were made of straw.

On the contrary, in my statement I accuse you and Pif (Menabena) of propagating the slander, Pif not having written at all on this subject.

So could Pif also "prove" to me that he didn't slander me by bringing up his past posts?

Furthermore, using the "Hekesh" analogy, one can say that just as when mentioning Pif I obviously wasn't referring to his blog posts, same can be said with you.

And I may venture even further by saying that the Halachik rule of Bitul may even apply when referring to you and Pif, thus completely obviating any possibility of my slander reference pertaining to your blog post.

But let's say we were to accept your argument that I was referring to your blog post, I still find it reprehensible to assert that the said post contains no slander.

If your purpose of the post was solely to accuse me of rigging the 'Head Staff' poll, why, may I ask, would you even bring up the previous 'Mashpia' poll? Why would you begin your post with "So who cheats on our polls?" and "How did Dovber get 1,288 votes???", if it were not to imply that the one 'caught' tampering with the 'Head Staff' poll was indeed responsible for the rigging of the 'Mashpia' poll as well.

Furthermore, based on your assertions, what is the meaning of your concluding statement "This is far from over. More to come"? More information that Dovber was the one tampering with the poll? Highly unlikely.

What you did in your post is a clear implementation of what's known in the legal world as 'defamation by implication', or under some jurisdictions, 'false light', which is a sueable offense. To quote a recent ruling of a Florida court: "defamation is actually not limited to literally false statements; it includes a subcategory of “defamation by implication.” Defamation by implication covers situations like a newspaper including a person’s picture in an article about a certain category of criminals, even without explicitly stating that the person was a criminal himself."

The above is Halachikly viable as well, as the Chofetz Chaim writes in Klal Alef of his Sefer 'Chofetz Chaim': איסור זה של לשון הרע הוא בין אם הוא מספר עליו בפיו ממש, או שהוא כותב עליו דבר זה במכתבו. וגם אין בו חילוק בין אם הוא מספר עליו הלשון הרע שלו בפירוש, ובין אם הוא מספר עליו הלשון הרע בדרך רמז, בכל גווני (בכל האופנים) - בכלל לשון הרע הוא

As for your argument that you clearly state "Was it him that voted for Dovber the last time, or does Dovber have the same program?" thus somehow indicating that you're not clearly accusing me, and your later argument that "I NEVER stated the FACT that you were the one to vote for him! I did write it in a doubting way, but I NEVER stated the fact!.." (sic) - the above in nonetheless applicable.

Or to take it a step further: it's known what Rashi writes (quoting the Medrash) that כל דבר שקר שאין אומרים בו קצת אמת בתחלתו אין מתקיים בסופו, so not only were you not stating some truth, you were in fact bolstering the lie by giving it vitality.

I would like to conclude however by commending you, for even after lambasting me for titling myself righteous, you go on to do the precise same in your 'twist the words of the righteous' statement.

Indeed, אמת מארץ תצמח...


For reference purposes I herewith include Yosel's 'refutation' in its entirety:

I wasn't planing on answering Shua's response but after being asked about it over and over, I see it important to clarify my words.

Shua writes that I propagated "vicious lies" about him manipulating the polls on the blog, his proof to say that this is not the truth, but rather "vicious lies" is from the comment written by BC Mendel Gordon saying that he was the one who ran the program on Dovber and gave him the 1250 votes.

My question to Shua is: Where did I write that you were the one to give Dovber the 1,288 votes?
What I wrote is that from the surveillance cameras (here I added a: O she ken O she lo) I was able to see that Shua "was voting for HIMSELF". Ending off I wrote: "Was it him that voted for Dovber the last time, or does Dovber have the same program?... "This is far from over. More to come"..." (and here again I added finishing off with a : O she ken O she lo).

I did write that you voted for yourself, a fact that was understood CLEARLY from your OWN mouth! Rather concerning DOVBER's votes I NEVER stated the FACT that you were the one to vote for him! I did write it in a doubting way, but I NEVER stated the fact!...

So where is the "vicious lies"? where is the propaganda? where is all the lies your writing about? And how does Mendel Gorden's comment support YOU, how do you have the pertness and guts to say about yourself "the work of the righteous are done by others"!?

"Righteous"? How did you come up with such a title about yourself? Aren't you the one who is spreading propaganda and "vicious lies"?

To finish off: כִּי הַשּׁוֹחַד יְעַוֵּר עֵינֵי חֲכָמִים וִיסַלֵּף דִּבְרֵי צַדִּיקִם, seemingly the bribery, a persons self love blind's (even) the eyes of the wise, and twist the words of the righteous...
O she ken O she lo!