I have a friend who is a VERY frum guy. I mean VERY FRRRRRUUUUMMM.
Recently, he was in a thorny situation, so he lied to extricate himself. 馃槻馃槻
He would never eat kitniyos on Pesach - that is but a minhag.
He is never not wearing Tzitzis. Wearing Tzitzis is not an obligation.
But he will lie which is a straight out pasuk from Chaumsh where we are told not only not to lie but to stay FAAAARRRRRR away from lying [诪讚讘专 砖拽专 转专讞拽]. [I will note that some Rishonim hold that the 讚讗讜专讬讬转讗 is only in court but not a white lie which is 讗住讜专 诪讚专讘谞谉].
Everybody lies. We have discussed this in the past and will probably do so in the future. It is TOO IMPORTANT a topic not to discuss and analyze.
Here is one [of many] reason not to lie:
Why do we believe in our tradition? Why do we keep Shabbos? Why do we check our clothing for Shatnez? Why do we fast on Yom Kippur? Why do we perform delicate surgery on 8 day old boys??
We do all that [and much much much more] b/c we believe that we weren't lied to. We believe that Hashem really did speak to Moshe 讜讬讚讘专 讛' 讗诇 诪砖讛 诇讗诪专 and told him whatever we are told He told him. We believe that Hashem appeared to the Jewish people and gave them the Torah. It wasn't that some people made up the story and passed it on to some naive guys who then misled their children etc. etc. until today. NO!! It really happened as we are taught. Yeshaya and Yirmiyahu weren't lying [or trippin' on acid] when they tell us their Divine visions. Hashem really appeared to them as they told us.
This is not a conspiracy!!!!!!! Nobody was lying. It is FORBIDDEN and EVIL to lie. We were told the truth. 讘专讜讱 讗诇拽谞讜 讜讻讜' 讜谞转谉 诇谞讜 转讜专转 讗诪转. It is EMES.
When someone lies he puts himself and those around him in a reality of falsehood, the OPPOSITE of our core belief system. People who live in such a world are not far from saying that if this is a lie, then maybe Torah is [讞住 讜砖诇讜诐] a lie. This is ESPECIALLY true of religious people. When religious people lie then people can think - Hey, if they lie about this then back then those "religious guys" lied also. The road to Chilul Shabbos and being 讘讜注诇 谞讚讜转 and other Aveiros man ANYWAY wants to do is very short.
So let us put ourselves in a reality where we don't lie and thus it will be easier to accept that we weren't lied to.
