A Joke at Someone’s Expense - Rabbi Zamir Cohen

Sometimes people sit together in company and someone gets an idea, a witty remark that will make everyone laugh. But deep down, he knows that the joke is at someone's expense, that it will hurt another person's feelings. Just to make others laugh, people are sometimes willing to do that. And that, says our tradition, is something a person must avoid, even at great personal cost. We must remember that one who embarrasses another in public is considered as though he has shed blood. The Gemara says it is as if he has committed murder, as if he has spilled his fellow's blood. What is the connection between embarrassing someone and spilling blood? The Gemara explains, when a person is humiliated, the blood rises to his face and then drains away. At first, he blushes red from shame, and then he turns pale. This physical reaction, the movement of blood in and out of the face, is viewed by heaven as if the person's blood had actually been spilled. Therefore, one who humiliates another in public is considered as though he has shed blood. How careful we must be never to embarrass another.