I have given myself a week after reading Changing the Immutable by Marc B. Shapiro before committing my thoughts to paper. I will share by thoughts in a few parts.
First off, the idea that facts are changed in many Torah sources is not something of which I was previously unaware. For anyone who has spent a lifetime studying Torah, this is something you come across every now and then. Perhaps it was the way in which the author marshaled example after example for 300 pages that made his point so powerful, and so infuriating. More on the details later. At this point in time I want to focus on the final chapter which discusses the permission for people to lie under certain circumstances. And it will discuss it from a very personal perspective.
Again, the sources and many of the examples he quotes are all familiar to me already, but there is one thing that is perfectly clear to me as well, this whole heter to lie for the greater good, to lie for the sake of shalom has gotten out of hand. There is no question in my mind that if Chazal would see the extent to which it is, and has been, abused, that they would prohibit any such distortions and falsehoods ever again. Yes, I will confess, I have relied on these heterim to be untruthful in the past, and on occasion I can only honestly say that I was using it as an excuse to be self-serving.
It isn't just me. When I was younger I used to think that perhaps my middos were less than perfect, but the prominent Rabbonim are above such petty failings. That changed when I was once taken to a din Torah in which the court for the most part ruled in my favor, issuing a written psak delineating their findings. A relative of my opponent in court, who was the head of another Bais Din, put tremendous pressure for the Bais Din to reverse their psak, something which is unheard of and Halachically untenable. They did so, and refused to speak to me at all about their change. They merely sent out a letter claiming that they have never issued a ruling to begin with. Simply put, it was a lie.
I tried to speak with various rabbis about it and essentially I was told that it was OK because this was the right thing to do. One rabbi who was involved said that even though he was related to the other party he had no question that he had the ability to be unbiased about the case.
Granted, I am biased as to the right thing to do in this case but lying and contravening halacha are quite clear. I suddenly realized how susceptible all people are. How easy it is to abuse a heter, and how scary it is to see the extent, both in the examples set forth in Changing the Immutable and anecdotally, the heter is used in ways it was never meant to be.
We have been lied to by well meaning people for the longest time. In many of those cases I am willing to assume the intentions were more pure than the story I just set forth, but it doesn't change the facts. And it hurts, and it is scary. With such a dearth of clear guidelines as to when it is, or isn't acceptable, and such abuse having been perpetrated until now, it is time to put this heter to rest.
First off, the idea that facts are changed in many Torah sources is not something of which I was previously unaware. For anyone who has spent a lifetime studying Torah, this is something you come across every now and then. Perhaps it was the way in which the author marshaled example after example for 300 pages that made his point so powerful, and so infuriating. More on the details later. At this point in time I want to focus on the final chapter which discusses the permission for people to lie under certain circumstances. And it will discuss it from a very personal perspective.
Again, the sources and many of the examples he quotes are all familiar to me already, but there is one thing that is perfectly clear to me as well, this whole heter to lie for the greater good, to lie for the sake of shalom has gotten out of hand. There is no question in my mind that if Chazal would see the extent to which it is, and has been, abused, that they would prohibit any such distortions and falsehoods ever again. Yes, I will confess, I have relied on these heterim to be untruthful in the past, and on occasion I can only honestly say that I was using it as an excuse to be self-serving.It isn't just me. When I was younger I used to think that perhaps my middos were less than perfect, but the prominent Rabbonim are above such petty failings. That changed when I was once taken to a din Torah in which the court for the most part ruled in my favor, issuing a written psak delineating their findings. A relative of my opponent in court, who was the head of another Bais Din, put tremendous pressure for the Bais Din to reverse their psak, something which is unheard of and Halachically untenable. They did so, and refused to speak to me at all about their change. They merely sent out a letter claiming that they have never issued a ruling to begin with. Simply put, it was a lie.
I tried to speak with various rabbis about it and essentially I was told that it was OK because this was the right thing to do. One rabbi who was involved said that even though he was related to the other party he had no question that he had the ability to be unbiased about the case.
Granted, I am biased as to the right thing to do in this case but lying and contravening halacha are quite clear. I suddenly realized how susceptible all people are. How easy it is to abuse a heter, and how scary it is to see the extent, both in the examples set forth in Changing the Immutable and anecdotally, the heter is used in ways it was never meant to be.
We have been lied to by well meaning people for the longest time. In many of those cases I am willing to assume the intentions were more pure than the story I just set forth, but it doesn't change the facts. And it hurts, and it is scary. With such a dearth of clear guidelines as to when it is, or isn't acceptable, and such abuse having been perpetrated until now, it is time to put this heter to rest.
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