Our Gemara on Amud Beis discusses the status of the snake, and the liability its owners would incur due its tendency to bite.  The damage of “tooth” (what an animal eats) is exempt in the public domain and only obligated if it enters a private domain, because it has a strong desire and benefit from eating, and so the owner is held less liable in the more chaotic, uncontrolled situation of public hustle and bustle.  A snake bites but it does not eat, and therefore doesn’t really enjoy the bite. Tosafos says even so, since it is a regular activity of the snake, the owner is not held liable in a public domain. Rashba (Bava Kamma 2b) offers a different reason for the Gemara’s ruling regarding the damages of a snake’s bite. He says, true the snake doesn’t enjoy the bite in terms of food gratification, but it does enjoy biting in terms of instinct gratification.

This Rashba is supported by an interesting Gemara (Taanis 8a):

אָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ, מַאי דִּכְתִיב: ״אִם יִשֹּׁךְ הַנָּחָשׁ בְּלוֹא לָחַשׁ וְאֵין יִתְרוֹן לְבַעַל הַלָּשׁוֹן״, לְעָתִיד לָבוֹא מִתְקַבְּצוֹת וּבָאוֹת כׇּל הַחַיּוֹת אֵצֶל הַנָּחָשׁ, וְאוֹמְרִים לוֹ: אֲרִי דּוֹרֵס וְאוֹכֵל, זְאֵב טוֹרֵף וְאוֹכֵל, אַתָּה מָה הֲנָאָה יֵשׁ לְךָ? אֹמֵר לָהֶם: ״וְאֵין יִתְרוֹן לְבַעַל הַלָּשׁוֹן״.

Reish Lakish said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “If the snake bites before it is charmed, then the charmer has no advantage” (Ecclesiastes 10:11)? In the future, all the animals will gather together and come to the snake and say to him: A lion mauls its prey and eats it; a wolf tears apart its prey and eats it; but you, what pleasure do you have when you bite a person, as you are incapable of eating him? The snake will say to them: “The charmer has no advantage.” The Hebrew phrase for snake charmer literally means the master of the tongue, and therefore the snake is saying that he has a more difficult question: What pleasure does a slanderer receive, as he inflicts more harm for which he obtains no physical enjoyment.

This gemara needs more understanding.  If there is no enjoyment in l’shon hara why do we do it?  Sadly, we must admit there is great pleasure in revenge or putting someone else down. If so, what does the Gemara really mean?  The Gemara means to say that you have less of an excuse for indulging in this admittedly base and instinctive pleasure.  This is different than someone who steals because he desires an object, or even someone who commits a sexual crime. At least there is some tangible physical object which we can claim is irresistible. But slander is simply a gratification of the lowest animal instinct. This corresponds with the peshat of the Rashba regarding the snake. The snake’s bite is still considered “tooth” because even though it is true that he does not get nourishment from the bite, he really enjoys the gratification of the pure instinct to bite. So too, of course l’shon hara feels good.  That is why it is so awful. Because it is just raw hate and venomous revenge. 

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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