The rotational relaxation of HCl in a free jet expansion was studied in a pump-and-probe experiment using infrared laser excitation and resonant multiphoton ionization detection. Rate constants were determined for various J to J' energy transfer processes in the vibrationally excited molecule. There is a strong indication that the rotational energy transfer occurs via a near-resonant dipole-dipole interaction between vibrationally excited and vibrationally cold HCl molecules.