was enhanced by idle chatter. Like Mr. Hart, the president was involved in indiscretions. But he admitted them. "In fact, I contend that's what put him in office," Professor Levin says. "(George) Bush was boring." And remember the whole Nancy Reagan-astrology thing? Or the rumors about how it was dear old Nance who really wore the pants in the family? Believe it or not, those reports positively influenced President Rea- gan's image, Professor Levin insists. "A little dirt can actually help your reputation. It makes you hu- man." Gossip also can help the office greenhorn acclimate himself to his new work- place, he adds. "Everybody knows that if you really want to know what's hap- pening at the office, you follow the grapevine at the water cool- er." So, how can something so good be so bad? Halachah, Jewish law, for- bids gossip, and Jewish texts are replete with axioms about ART BY BOB LYNCH a ( DoIt i f It's enticing. It's naughty. It's gossip. Here's what a sociology professor says it means, and why Halachah says it's wrong. ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSISTANT EDITOR hey know virtually everything: Barbra Streisand's favorite drink. Where Michael Jackson buys his clothes. What Sted- man bought Oprah for her birthday. Their resource: garbage. They're called tipsters, and they regularly scour the trash of the rich and famous. Colum- nists and certain reporters — some refer to them as sharks — will pay big bucks for tidbits about Madonna and Rush Lim- baugh, Michael Jordan and Leona Helmsley. Anything to feed the public's unquenchable appetite for gossip. Sociology Professor Jack Levin of Northeastern Univer- sity in Boston is an expert on gossip. (Ask him — as so many National Enquirer-bashers will, "Why should anyone care what Al Gore likes for breakfast, any- way?" and he'll respond, "Why not?") He believes gossip is an integral part of a free society. "We depend on knowing about the personal lives of our leaders because we use that in- formation to predict how they, as public officials, will treat us," he says. "That's why gossip is indispensable to democracy." Remember Gary Hart? He was the presidential candidate who insisted he never fooled around. Then his picture — complete with a buxom blonde on his lap — turned up in the National Enquirer. The public saw Mr. Hart as a liar, explains Professor Levin, author of Gos- sip: The Inside Scoop. No one wants a liar heading the coun- try. But don't confuse Mr. Hart with Bill Clinton, whose image, Professor Levin says, actually the evils of idle chatter. "Even if all of a slander is not believed, half of it is," according to the Midrash. Proverbs states that "What your eyes have seen, report not hastily to the mob." And the Talmud observes: "Your friend has a friend, and your friend's friend has a friend (so be discreet)." The problem, explains Rabbi Martin Berman of Congregation Beth Achim, is simple: "Tale bearing and slander destroy people's ' lives." Professor Levin, also an expert on mass murders, concurs. "Gossip," he says, "can be very dangerous when it's used as a weapon I against a group of people or an individual." Professor Levin does his research on gossip by eavesdropping. He has even had his students sit for hours a day and sim- ply listen to others' con- versations. Their findings Jack Levin: Dirt makes you human. show that men and women gos- sip just about the same amount, though men talk more about people they don't know — like sports stars and passing strangers — while women tend to focus on family members and friends. About one-third of all gossip is positive. Gossip also is big business, as anyone who works for the National Enquirer can testi- fy. The National Enquirer pays up to $70,000 a year to one source. So what if every other En- quirer story begins, " 'Dear God!' I screamed in terror as I felt (a shark or a man-eating bear or a crazed space alien) take hold of my arm." So what if the Enquirer actually ran a story about how the Clintons' cat, Socks, faced a nervous breakdown. The tabloid, which has been known to pay up to $70,000 a year to a single source, is the largest-selling newspaper in the country. Enquirer reporters earn twice as much as their coun- terparts at the New York Times. (A former student of Professor Levin was hired 10 years ago at the Enquirer. The starting salary was $42,000). Maybe that's why Enquirer reporters aren't interested in what anyone thinks of their methods (which include send- ing sources to rummage through stars' garbage). "They don't really care if you say it's unethical," says Profes- sor Levin, whose gossip re- search has brought him into frequent contact with the En- quirer staff and gossip mavens like Star columnist Janet Charlton. "It's irrelevant to them."