Honesty And Its Adversary

"Each man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well -- he has changed his market-cart into a chariot of the sun."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating."

Sophocles

I went to a Yeshiva High School. Cheating was rampant. I even remember one test where the teacher left and had an eleventh grader serve as proctor. He then proceeded to pass around an already completed test to help the students. EVERYBODY with a working conscience agrees that it is morally wrong to cheat, yet it is still commonplace, even amongst those who should really know better. So here are a few points:

1] It is halachically forbidden! There is literature on the topic [Rav Moshe Feinstein in the Igros Moshe Choshen Mishpat 2/30 and others].

2] If one cheats on tests he will eventually cheat in business, on his wife and on Hashem. It corrupts the soul.

3] If one studies he might learn something, if he cheats - he won't. Knowledge is a good thing!

4] It is a mammoth chillul Hashem when caught and eventually people get caught. And then the media gets wind of it. OUCH!

5] Add you own.....

Thanks to my friend C.A.F. who after seeing this contemptible phenomenom asked me to write about it. I gladly obliged. It must be uprooted from our midst.

BLESSINGS!!:)