4) One who gloats over his neighbor's shame. He thinks he has done nothing wrong, because his neighbor is not present, thus, his neighbor was not humiliated. He merely compared his good deeds and wisdom with his neighbor's deeds and wisdom, making himself look respectable and his neighbor vulgar.
5) One who suspects an innocent person of doing wrong. He will think to himself that, "I have not sinned," rationalizing, "What harm have I done to him? I merely raised a doubt as to whether or not he sinned." He does not realize that it is a sin, to suspect an innocent person of being a transgressor3.
[4:5] Among these twenty four wrong deeds, there are five characteristics that the transgressor becomes addicted to, and are difficult to give up. Therefore, a person must be wary of them. They are; 1) Telling untruthful bad stories about someone; 2) Slandering someone by telling the truth about him; 3) Allowing oneself to become angry quickly: 4) Thinking about doing evil; 5) Becoming friendly with a wicked person. He learns from his deeds and they become rooted in his personality. King Solomon thought of such a person when he said, "He who keeps company with fools comes to grief." (Proverbs 13:20). In Hilcbos Deos we explained the character traits that should be adopted. This is even more so required of one who needs to repent.
[4:6] All of the above, and similar transgressions, although they are roadblocks to repentance, they do not prevent it altogether. If one of these sinners repent, even if it be only partial repentance, he is considered a repentant person and has a share in the World to Come, even if he must be punished for not fully repenting.