“I Accidentally Read the Doctor’s Mail, Can I Tell the Management?”
A Moral Dilemma for the Shabbos Table

By Rabbi Yitzi Weiner
This week’s Torah portion talks about the blessings that Balaam gave to the Jewish people. In one of his more famous blessings, he said “How good are your tents, Yackov”  (Bamidbar, 24:5)

The Gemara explains that he was praising how the tents of the Jewish people were situated in a way that would respect each other’s privacy. The Gemara in Bava Basra cites this as one of the sources of the mitzva to respect other’s privacy and not to peek into someone else’s home. (See Bava Basra 59b, 60a)

There is a mitzva called “gilui sod”, which prohibits disclosing someone else’s secrets. There is a related Halacha called the Cherem D’rabaeinu Gershom that forbids reading another person’s private correspondence without permission. (See Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 334:22.

The following true story relates to a moral dilemma that involves someone who read someone else’s mail.

Dr. Yonatan Weiss was a doctor who worked in the Hadassah hospital in Yerushalayim. Mail was delivered to the hospital every day, and the mail was then distributed into the different cubbies assigned to the doctors. One day, Dr. Weiss open up a piece of mail, without realizing that it was really addressed to his colleague, Dr. Avi Berman. The letter was a follow-up letter offering Dr. Berman a very large salary if he would relocate to be the director of the cardiology department in an Austin, Texas hospital. The letter also contained a contract for Dr. Berman to sign as soon as possible.

As soon as Dr. Weiss got to the bottom of the letter he realized that it was not for him, but it was mistakenly placed in his cubby.

Dr. Berman was one of the lead cardiac surgeons in the Hadassah hospital and he was one of the most sought after doctors in Israel.  He saved thousands of lives each year. His departure would be a great loss for the hospital and for that matter for the Jewish people. From the correspondence it seemed clear that the Hadassah hospital management was not aware of the negotiations.

Dr. Weiss had the following dilemma. He wanted to know if it would be morally permitted for him to tell the hospital manager or the HR department what he learned. Could he tell them that he was accidentally apprised of the fact that Dr. Berman may imminently sign a contract with a  hospital in Austin and that they should immediately offer him a high salary with very favorable terms before he becomes committed?

On one hand, it would likely be a breach of Dr. Berman’s privacy to let the management know. But on the other hand maybe there were mitigating factors that would allow Dr. Weiss to reveal the information.

First of all, if Dr. Berman would leave the hospital it would be a great loss to the Jewish patients in Israel. Even though Dr. Berman would be doing wonderful things in Austin, he would be helping many more Jews in Israel which perhaps is a priority. Keeping him in Israel would help many more Jews and would help Eretz Yisrael.

Secondly, he didn’t actively seek to read his colleague’s mail. He read it by accident. Maybe there was a reason for this accident. Maybe after the fact (b’dieved) it would be OK to tell the management about what he learned.

Also, maybe it was unfair for the management for lose such an important employee without a chance to negotiate.

What do you think? Does Dr. Weiss have the right to share what he learned with the hospital management?

See Chashukei Chemed Yoma page 53

Answer to last week’s moral dilemma

Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein in Chashukei Chemed Yuma page 262 deals with a similar case where an autopsy was needed before an accident victim can get an insurance payout. Rav Zilberstein says that an autopsy is not allowed to simply earn a lot of money.
Rav Tzvi Berkowitz says that the same thing applies in this case where an autopsy is needed for a life insurance claim. We can’t violate a prohibition in order to gain money.

Have a very beautiful shabbos!

Click HERE if you would like to receive this question series as an email each week.