Frowning on pseudepigraphy

Hi,

[Pseudepigraphy = Attributing a work to someone other than its author]

"Rabbi Avahu cited Rabbi Yochanan: One may teach his daughter Greek; this is ornamental for her. 

"Shimon bar Abba heard this and said: Because Rabbi Avahu wants to teach his daughter Greek, he hung this upon Rabbi Yochanan.

"Rabbi Avahu heard this and said: May terrible things happen to me, if I did not hear this from Rabbi Yochanan!"

(Talmud Yerushalmi Shabbat 6:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Would you lie for someone else?

Hi,

"One who is suspected regarding a particular sin is not credible to say that his product is free of that sin, but he is credible regarding another person's product. It may be assumed that one would not lie purely to help someone else."

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Shemitah and Yovel 8:17)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Generosity and Honesty

Hi,

"Do not allow generosity and honesty to leave you; bind them to your throat, inscribe them upon the walls of your heart, and so find favour and a reputation for insight in the eyes of Gd and man."

(Mishlei 3:3-4)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Make sure your words are true

Hi,

"One is obligated to pay his debts and fulfill his words. Leviticus 19:36 requires "an honest hin [measurement]", and the Talmud (Bava Metzia 49a) comments that this means, "That your hen ('Yes') shall be honest, and your 'No' shall be honest.""

מצוה עליו לפרוע חובו ולאמת דבריו דכתיב "הין צדק" - "שיהא הן שלך צדק ולאו שלך צדק".

(Rashi to Talmud, Ketuvot 86a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The prohibition against false testimony

Hi,

The Torah's prohibition against lying is not limited to courtroom testimony, but the specification of “false testimony” serves as an additional prohibition for court cases. A witness who is caught testifying falsely may, depending on circumstances, be incriminated as an ed zomeim; such a person is punished according to the suffering he intended to cause with his testimony.

The Torah stressed the harm of lying in court, specifically, because undermining the courts undermines Torah and civilization. For this reason, the neviim spent considerable time inveighing against corruption in the beit din (Jewish court).

Pirkei Avot 1:18 echoed this point in noting that honest testimony is part of the foundation on which the world rests: “The world exists on three things: Law, Truth and Peace.” Our Torah is a Torah of Truth, and G-d's seal is Truth.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Helping someone cheat in court to gain his rightful property

Hi,

"Even where one knows that a party has been cheated, and that the opposing litigant is lying, one may in no way teach him claims that will assist him."

ואפילו ידע שהוא עשוק, ושבעל דינו טוען עליו בשקר לפי הכרע הסברה, אין מותר לו ללמדו טענה שתצילהו בשום פנים 

(Rambam, Commentary to Mishnah Avot 1:8)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Distance yourself from falsehood

Hi,

"How do we know that if someone owes three people a maneh, they should not arrange for one of them to be the plaintiff and the other two to serve as witnesses, to draw from him a maneh for them to split? It is written, 'Distance yourself from falsehood.'"

מנין לשלשה שנושין מנה באחד, שלא יהא אחד בעל דין ושנים עדים כדי שיוציאו מנה ויחלוקו? ת"ל: מדבר שקר תרחק. 

(Talmud, Shevuot 31a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Implying a falsehood

Hi,

"One may not listen to someone who says, 'Come stand beside my single witness, without testifying, so that my debtor will be afraid, thinking I have two witnesses, and will admit the [genuine] debt.'"

ואפילו אמר לו: בא ועמוד עם עד אחד שיש לי ולא תעיד, רק שיפחד בעל חובי ויסבור שיש לי שני עדים ויודה לי, לא ישמע לו (טור). 

(Rabbi Moshe Isserles, Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 28:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Be honest!

Hi,

"One who interacts with a Jew or a non-Jewish idolator, measuring or weighing dishonestly, violates a prohibition and is obligated to refund the money. Similarly, one may not trick a non-Jew in accounting; one must be precise..."

אחד הנושא ונותן עם ישראל או עם הגוי עובד עבודה זרה אם מדד או שקל בחסר עובר בלא תעשה וחייב להחזיר, וכן אסור להטעות את הגוי בחשבון אלא ידקדק עמו... 

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Theft 7:8)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Honest weights and measures

Hi,

"We are commanded to make our scales, weights and measures very precise, and to be exact in their calibration when we make them, as Vayikra 19:36 says, 'Precise scales, precise stones [weights], precise ephah [dry volume measures] and precise hin [liquid volume measures] you shall have.'

"The same is true for measuring land; one must be exact in calculating the dimensions of land, based on recorded geometric principles. Even [an error of] a finger's breadth of land is evaluated as though it was full of [expensive] saffron."

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Theft 8:1)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

How bad is a lie?

Hi,

"One who speaks falsely is as though he worships idolatry." [A scriptural basis follows, but translating it into English would not aid the reader.]

(Kallah Rabti 2:5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Guard your tongue

Hi,

"Who is the man who desires life, who loves his days, to see good? Guard your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Abandon evil and perform good, seek peace and pursue it."

(Psalms 34:13-14)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Omission for peace?

Hi,

"Peace is so great that even Gd changed [the truth] for the sake of peace.

"Sarah said [regarding Avraham], 'My husband is old,' and when Gd re-told the conversation to Avraham He reported that she had said, 'I [Sarah] am old.'"

(Talmud, Yevamot 65b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Three ways to get Gd's [negative] attention

Hi,

"Rabbi Avahu said: There are three things from which Gd's sight is never blocked [i.e. He always sees these events and acts on them]: Cheating people, theft, and idolatry."

(Talmud, Bava Metzia 59a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Teach your children honesty

Hi,

"All you who have influence over the soul of the young, to prepare them for a life of justice, watch out that they retain that inner shield which protects from many aberrations; watch out that they remain sincere, truthful and straightforward as the Creator wanted them to be, so that they fear the lie more than the harshest punishment which you might inflict upon them."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb paragraph 372)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

A good employee

Hi,

"Abba Chilkiyah was the grandson of Choni haM'agel [who was known for success in praying for rain]. When the world needed rain, the sages sent a messenger to Abba Chilkiyah, he would pray, and rain would come.

"Once they needed rain and sent a pair of rabbis to Abba Chilkiyah, to ask him to pray for rain. They went to his house and he wasn't there. They went into the fields and found him hoeing the fields. They greeted him, but he didn't turn to face them."

[some of the story removed for time and space]

"They later asked Abba Chilkiyah, 'When we greeted you, why didn't you turn to us?' Abba Chilkiyah responded: I was hired as a day laborer, and I didn't want to stop working [as that would be cheating my boss]."

(Talmud, Taanit 23a-b)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

A Jew dare not lie

Hi,

"If you were to turn truth and justice into lies and deception you would be detested by Gd, for He could no longer acknowledge you as His image - and how could you then still claim to belong to His people and to His estate? You would have lost your human dignity, and yet still want to be a Jew? Would not Gd's Name be desecrated if He let you prosper?"

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 358, based on Deuteronomy 25:13-16)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Distance yourself from unethical people

Hi,

"He [Chatam Sofer] warned them repeatedly to speak honestly from the heart, to be the same inside and out, and to distance themselves an arrow's shot from people of lies and trickery – even if those who are people of Torah.

"I remember that my father [Ktav Sofer] once told me of a Torah scholar who was also wealthy and the author of a religious text, but who had absorbed heretical ideas and who had the traits of Lavan, humiliating the sages and causing them pain. His holy father [Chatam Sofer] had told him, "Believe me: Whenever that man leaves my home, I take a book of ethical instruction to study, for that man's breath communicates impurity."

(R' Avraham Feigelstock, Toldot Chatam Sofer, pg. 31b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The gravity of the false oath

Hi,

"For all of the Torah's transgressions, the punishment of one who is meritorious may be forestalled for two or three generations. For this sin [of swearing falsely], though, he is punished immediately, as it is written (Zecharyah 5:4)… 'I have brought her out' immediately. 'And she will come to the house of the thief' – This refers to one who fools people, who has no financial claim on others but who lodges the claim and forces the other to swear. 'And to the house of the one who swears in My Name falsely' – This is as it sounds. 'And she will rest in his house and destroy it, its wood and its stones' – You see that a false oath can destroy that which fire and water cannot destroy."

(Talmud, Shevuot 39a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Gd vs Truth

Hi,

"R' Simon said: When Gd came to create Adam, the ministering angels formed groups, some saying he should not be created and some saying he should be created… Chesed said he should be created for he performs kindnesses, Truth said he should not be created because he is entirely of lies, Justice said he should be created for he performs acts of justice, Shalom said he should not be created beause he is entirely of quarrels.

"What did Gd do? He took Truth and cast it to the ground, as it is written, 'And You cast truth to earth.'"

(Midrash, Bereishit Rabbah 8:5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai