As I sit here and ponder the troublesome news of the last few days, my mind is flooded with many ideas. Sit with me for a few minutes as I ponder the following:
I have seen a number of people write that they or someone they know have received a heter (Rabbinical permission) to lie to the government about their income. I have great difficulty with that, but why don't we continue for a few moments with the assumption that such a heter actually exists. Where does it lead?
In the mid-80s I was once giving a series of classes on Shmiras HaLashon (being careful not to speak ill of others). Inevitably at one point the discussion turned to the permissibility of speaking Loshon Hora about a Gentile. One of the women in the audience spoke up and shared something very profound. She said that as she knew that the Halacha distinguished between Jews and non-Jews she accepted upon herself to be very careful not to speak ill of any of her Jewish friends, but she permitted herself to be fully involved in her office's gossip, because all of her co-workers weren't Jewish. She quickly realized that it was not going to work. Either she could be a person who focused on the good of other people and did not demean herself by speaking ill of them, or not. But there was no way she could be one type of person in one setting and a completely different person in another. When she would come home from work she would still find herself in the petty gossipy frame of mind in which she had been, and could not just shake herself out of it.
The same is true with fraud and deception. I don't know enough Halacha to declare whether or not it is permitted to defraud the government as these people are accused of, but I do know human nature. People who spend much of their financial lives living in a world of fraud and deceit, cannot possibly suddenly be completely honest in their financial (and other) dealings with others. The corruption seeps in and permeates all of their being, subconsciously at first and, eventually, just as they rationalize how to defraud the government, they find reasons to defraud everyone else. It cannot be escaped.
I do not believe that the Torah could permit such insidious poison to come within a Jew. Whatever the technical reasons why some may feel it is justified, they are lacking the foresight of איזהו חכם הרואה את הנולד, a wise person sees the eventual consequences of certain behaviors.
I have seen a number of people write that they or someone they know have received a heter (Rabbinical permission) to lie to the government about their income. I have great difficulty with that, but why don't we continue for a few moments with the assumption that such a heter actually exists. Where does it lead?
In the mid-80s I was once giving a series of classes on Shmiras HaLashon (being careful not to speak ill of others). Inevitably at one point the discussion turned to the permissibility of speaking Loshon Hora about a Gentile. One of the women in the audience spoke up and shared something very profound. She said that as she knew that the Halacha distinguished between Jews and non-Jews she accepted upon herself to be very careful not to speak ill of any of her Jewish friends, but she permitted herself to be fully involved in her office's gossip, because all of her co-workers weren't Jewish. She quickly realized that it was not going to work. Either she could be a person who focused on the good of other people and did not demean herself by speaking ill of them, or not. But there was no way she could be one type of person in one setting and a completely different person in another. When she would come home from work she would still find herself in the petty gossipy frame of mind in which she had been, and could not just shake herself out of it.The same is true with fraud and deception. I don't know enough Halacha to declare whether or not it is permitted to defraud the government as these people are accused of, but I do know human nature. People who spend much of their financial lives living in a world of fraud and deceit, cannot possibly suddenly be completely honest in their financial (and other) dealings with others. The corruption seeps in and permeates all of their being, subconsciously at first and, eventually, just as they rationalize how to defraud the government, they find reasons to defraud everyone else. It cannot be escaped.
I do not believe that the Torah could permit such insidious poison to come within a Jew. Whatever the technical reasons why some may feel it is justified, they are lacking the foresight of איזהו חכם הרואה את הנולד, a wise person sees the eventual consequences of certain behaviors.
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