There is a fellow who is very popular on social media who makes videos [among other topics] that expose heretics. He made one about a Chabad Rabbi who is super popular with clips showing him saying things that are directly against the Torah. Two weeks ago he made a video showing that one of the most popular personalities on social media who wears a yarmulke and identifies as an Orthodox Jew, is in fact, a kofer. He doesn't believe in Tchiyas Hameisim and isn't sure about Olam Haba. He said it himself in front of his hundreds of thousands of viewers. So there went two out of the Rambam's 13 Principles. According to the Gemara - he has forfeited his right to Olam Haba and Tchiyas Hameisim. This fellow LAMBASTED him for his kfirah. [He also is openly not careful about various important Halachos and I once saw a video where he said - out of ignorance and not kfirah - that not moving muktza on Shabbos is merely a "minhag"].
This video went up just two weeks ago and already has about 22 thousand views. [To contrast - when I give a REALLY GOOD GEMARA SHIUR [at least in my estimation], like, KENOKADIG!!! [a Yiddish term meaning AWE-SOME], I will get 3 views - if I am lucky. If I am luckier, those 3 will not just be me chazering what I said or my mother pressing the refresh button and people actually listened w/o falling asleep. This can be attributed to the fact that people don't think that my shiurim are obviously not as good as I think they are. That is a testament to my ego which really needs to be checked. Some people go to detox for drug addiction. I have never been zoche to do drugs, so instead, I go to ego deflation].
From this, I learn that if I would make videos exposing Apikorsim and not on such hot and highly contested topics that fill social media like what do we do when there is a conflict between a חזקה דהשתא and a חזקה דמעיקרא or if an עד אחד is נאמן when he is not coming to be מוציא ממון, I would probably get more popular. But my goal is not to be popular but to spread Toras Hashem, so I will continue bez"H bl"n giving shiurim on many topics that interest very few people in the hope that people will listen anyway and get interested. Sometimes people study what interests them and other times we study what interests us less and become interested. When I was born the Shaarei Yosher and Tshuvos Noda Be-yehuda didn't interest me but I developed an interest over time. When I was born all that interested me was my mother, drinking, burping and a clean diaper. Today, I have advanced beyond the burping and diaper but am still into the mother [שתחיה!!!] and drinking thing.
So my question is - Is he doing a good thing? He is publicly embarrassing and defaming another Jew! Lashon Hara is Lashon Hara even though it is true!!
Answer: The Chofetz Chaim rules that it is permitted to speak Lashon Hara about an Apikorus. It is actually a public service to expose such people so that people don't get confused by their yarmulke and think that they are representing Judaism. I mean, the Pope wears a yarmulke. A real Yom Kippur super whitey, in fact. And he is anything but an ehrliche Yid. That is probably why he has such trouble finding a shidduch.
Apikorsim are dangerous people. That is why there is such a harsh punishment for them. The most basic principle of our religion is belief. Chavakuk [he was a Navi before he became a street in Geula] said that all of the mitzvos in the Torah are rooted in one mitzva - Emunah!! צדיק באמונתו יחיה.
Modern man is not comfortable with the idea of trashing others b/c of what they believe. Hey, it's a free country and you can believe what you want!! But what can we do - the Torah is not so liberal and demands that we maintain certain beliefs if we want to be in the fold. One might Halachically considered a Goy [actually worse] if one denies the principles of our faith. We have given many shiurim on the topic - and see here for an AMAZING treatment of the topic. [If you go through the teshuva PLEASE email me so I have the gratification of knowing that you did!!! You will get my award for "Best Student Of The Month". No money but a HUUUUGE yashar koach and GREAT respect.]
So it is not generally my style to go after kofrim [cetainly not by name although I did once post about a very popular rabbi who wrote that other religions can be true as well רח"ל] but there is a value in it, as long as it is done in a way that doesn't cause a Chilul Hashem. Also, it is proper to give these people an opportunity to respond. Maybe they were misunderstood or their words were taken out of context etc. etc.
