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. 😲😲
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 [מדבר שקר תרחק]. [I will note that some Rishonim hold that the דאורייתא is only in court but not a white lie which is אסור מדרבנן].
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 וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר 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. ברוך אלקנו וכו' ונתן לנו תורת אמת. 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 [חס ושלום] 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 בועל נדות 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.
