Speak The Truth

"Hate" is a strong word. The pasuk in Mishlei [6/17] says that Hashem hates לשון שקר. Hashem hates lies. His signature is "truth".

I was at a lawyers office right before Yom Kippur and the secretary received a phone call for her boss who was standing right there. She said "הוא יצא החוצה" - He stepped out. I was so bothered! Why did she have to lie?! She could have just as easily said "He can't speak right now" or better "Can you call back later". Her boss the lawyer wore a big kippah on his head. He wasn't bothered at all and it seemed that he was pleased with her answer.

Society can't function efficiently if people aren't honest. If there is no trust then there is no relationship, no connection and everything is fake.

I am lied to from time to time on a range of topics and it is so irritating. It is one of the words of our vidui - כזבנו. When someone isn't honest with me I feel like everything the person says is now thrown into question. Example: If someone doesn't want to give a donation to my yeshiva then they don't have to - but why do people promise and then not send? If it is because they forget then it just proves that truth is not at the forefront of their moral principles for if it were they would never forget. When I promise I never forget and I am a very floaty, forgetful person. I just can't handle not keeping my word so I don't forget when I make a promise. At least I don't think I forget - maybe I do forget and don't even realize it... I hope not:-).

I could write a long essay on how terrible it is to lie and how egregious a sin it is but that would be superfluous. EVERYBODY in every culture understands that lying is bad yet it is so ubiquitous. Sort of like eating healthy - everyone knows how important it is but very few people do it.

So let us restore the midda of emes to it's rightful place as the sina-qua-non of a Jew and Eved Hashem.