Question:
B”H Thank you for your help. My question is: could it be lashon hara if a friend of my mother’s asks me (privately) what my mothers measurements are (height, bust measurement) so that she can surprise her with a gift and wants to make sure it fits? I told the friend the information, thinking that I was doing it for a nice reason (to enable my mother to get simcha from the present), but then my yetzer hara made me second guess if what I did could be wrong? It goes without saying that I had good intentions. Also, my mom’s friend is not jewish if this impacts the technicality of is/is not lashon hara…any advice/guidance is appreciated (is teshuva needed?…) if this could be answered privately, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Answer:
This is a very good question. I discussed your question with a number of poskim, some said that it is permitted, others however were skeptical if it is permitted, but couldn’t answer. Those who permitted it, reasoned that essentially a person’s dress size is information that is available to everyone, when looking at the person, many people can basically tell the person’s size. Coupled with the fact that it is for your mother’s benefit, it is permitted. Others weren’t so sure, since your mother might indeed mind that you say her actual size.
Regardless, even if it was technically not the correct thing to do, the poskim said that you don’t need to do teshuva.
Have a kesiva vchasima tova.
