What is the approach of Jewish law towards telling the truth? When is a person permitted to lie? We're all brought up to understand and believe that one must always tell the truth. The Torah tells us this very clearly in Shemot, "
Midvar sheker tirchak
." (Keep far away from lies.) This teaches us that lying is such a serious transgression that not only is it prohibited but one must keep away from anything that will lead to it. If one looks at the letters of the words
emet
(truth
): aleph, mem, taf
, one can see that they each have a solid base. But if one looks at the letters of the word
sheker
(falsehood):
shin
,
kuf
,
reish
, one can see that they stand on only one foot. If one knocks them just a little they will fall over. This signifies that truth will always triumph while falsehood will never last.
The Midrash tells us that when Noach built the ark, all the animals entered in pairs. The angel of
sheker
came but Noach refused him entrance claiming that he needed a pair. So the angel of
pachdan
(bad luck) made a covenant with
sheker
that they would become a pair. Anything that anyone attains through lies will be destroyed by bad luck.
Yet there are times when it may even be a mitzvah to lie. During WWII, there was a righteous non Jewish woman who agreed to hide a group of Jews in her home. One day the Germans came around knocking on doors looking for Jews. The lady faced a dilemma. If they asked her if there were Jews hiding in her home she insisted that she could not lie. So the Jews told her, "We'll go out to the veranda. Then you can honestly say there are no Jews here." This story, however, is definitely a case where according to Jewish law one would actually be obligated to lie if it meant saving lives.
Let's look at the famous story of Avraham
avinu,
the father of the Jewish nation. For many years he and Sarah had no children. Then one day, when she was very old, angels came and told her she would have a child. She wondered aloud, "How will I have a child? My husband Avraham is so old!" Hashem repeated this to Avraham but changed what Sarah had said to, "I am old," so as not to cause tension between Avraham and Sarah. The Gemara in Yevamos teaches us that we learn from this that one may bend the truth for the sake of peace.
The Gemara brings additional proof from the story of Yosef. After Yaakov passed away, the brothers were worried that he would take revenge on them. They told Yosef that their father commanded that he not retaliate and that he forgive them for what they had done. Rashi says this wasn't true. Their father never told them this. But they were permitted to lie so that there would be peace between them.
The Gemara further says, "Rabbi Nosson adds, 'It's a mitzvah to lie in certain cases.'" He brings proof from the prophet Shmuel who was commanded by Hashem to anoint David as king. Shmuel was worried that Shaul would kill him if he found out. Therefore Hashem told him to take a sacrifice with him. When Shaul would see Shmuel he could say that he'd come to bring a sacrifice. We see here another case of lying for the sake of peace.
Pirkei Avot tells us, "Be like the students of Aharon Hakohen." Aharon strove to make peace between people. When he saw two people arguing he would pretend that both sides wanted to make up. Here too Aharon bent the truth to restore
shalom
. Pirkei Avot says that not only is this ok, but we should all try to imitate Aharon's ways.
The Gemara in Bava Metziah discusses lost property that has no identifying signs. The
halacha
is that the finder can take it because the loser has already given up hope of getting it back, and since there are no identifying signs it cannot be returned. However, the Gemara says, if a
talmid chacham
claims it even without the identifying signs, he can be believed. How do we know he is a true scholar? One of the tests is if the person never deviates from the truth apart from the following three cases where he is permitted to lie: 1. If out of curiosity someone asks him how much he's learned, he may be modest and lie about it. In fact it's considered praiseworthy not to boast and tell the truth. 2. If he's asked about personal marital matters, he's allowed to lie. 3. If he benefited from someone's hospitality, he may lie to avoid telling others about it. Perhaps the host does not want so many other guests. While the Rambam says that one is permitted to lie in these cases, other Rishonim including the Rif say that it is in fact an obligation.
The Gemara in Kesubot asks the famous question, how should one dance in front of the bride? Beit Shammai says, "
Kallah ke'mo she'hi.
" (Praise the bride as she is). Beit Hillel says, "
Kallah naeh
v'chasida,
" (The pretty and gracious bride). Beit Shammai disagreed. What if she is deformed? How can you say she's beautiful when the Torah says to keep away from lies? Beit Hillel countered, if someone went to the marketplace and bought something ugly would it help if you told him it looked dreadful? You'd just make the person feel bad. So too one is obligated to praise the woman who the groom married. We see from here that a person must live pleasantly with people and try to get along with others.
In fact the
halacha
is like Beit Hillel. The Perisha explains, it's not really a lie to praise an ugly bride, as it refers to her qualities not her physical features. The Aruch Hashulchan elaborates that it means, there's a "
chut shel chesed mushach aleha
." The Gemara says Esther was green. She was really ugly, but she looked beautiful because she had a
chut shel chesed
. The beauty of her soul shone through. The Ridvaz says there's no problem about praising the bride as one is permitted to lie for peace. The Ritva adds that even if she has an outright flaw you can still say she's beautiful.
The
halacha
states that a Jewish court of law must consist of three
dayanim
(judges). A halachic decision is reached based on a majority opinion. The Shulchan Aruch states that if one of the
dayanim
says he doesn't have an opinion, the court cannot issue a ruling, so they must add another two judges to the court so that now there are five judges. Someone asked the Beit Yaakov, if one of the
dayanim
sees that the other two
dayanim
are incompetent, can he lie and say he doesn't have an opinion so that they'll be compelled to add two new
dayanim
? The Beit Yaakov says no because he will cause people to disrespect the
beit din
. How can a
dayan
say he doesn't know if that is his job? Other
poskim
argue and say that he can lie. Some say he can only lie if the other two
dayanim
are ignoramuses. But where the first
dayan
simply doesn't agree with the other two, he cannot lie. Some
poskim
mantain that even if they aren't ignoramuses, but the other
dayan
feels there's something wrong with their judgment, he may lie and say he doesn't know. So we see that even in cases that are not related to
shalom
one can lie to bring out the truth.
