Outgoing Prime Minister Barak has the dubious distinction of
being the least respected leader Israel has produced so far.
By the time his premiership came to an end, he had lost
almost all support even from his friends in the media. Why,
asked one journalist, was there such universal condemnation
of his behavior, among all his colleagues, who are all only
too cynically aware of the realities of political morality?
"It would seem", he replies, "that as in every field of
ethics, the lies of politicians are also a relative matter,"
but Barak's "manipulations" of the truth went too far; they
left commentators with no choice except outright
condemnation.
Perhaps, after all, man by his very nature does strive for
the truth. On the one hand, somebody who has not made a
point of internalizing the trait of truth despite the daily
temptations we are all faced with, gradually gets used to
breaking promises and to various other deviations from the
truth. Generally speaking, a person not only deceives
others, but also himself, not considering himself to be a
real liar. He comes up with tortuous self-justification
about "white lies", "everybody doing it" and so on. Slowly
but surely, the person's attribute of truth gets eroded.
Nevertheless, we all seem to retain at least a minimal
commitment to the truth, so that when a politician goes
beyond even political norms, this brings about a reaction
from all sections of the public.
It is to be hoped that we are far removed from the "culture
of falsehood" which the secular media talks about, but we
should still be aware of the lesson taught by Rabbeinu Yonah
that there are various levels of falsehood, and that even
seemingly insignificant deviations from the truth, may
result in the wholesale adoption of the midda of
sheker.
When talking about the "sect of liars" (in section 3 of
Shaarei Teshuva), Rabbeinu Yonah divides those
belonging to this sect into nine different types. One of
them is a person "who lies about something he has heard, and
changes some details intentionally. He derives no benefit
from these lies and the other person suffers no harm, but
his love of falsehood is such that sometimes he will make up
a whole story." Rabbeinu Yonah says that on the one hand the
punishment of such a person is not so severe because no harm
results from his lies, but on the other hand, his punishment
is great, because he cultivates within himself "the love of
falsehood." About such a person Shlomo Hamelech said, "He
that breathes out lies [will become] a false witness."
"This means that if you see somebody lying in his speech and
conversation, you may be sure that this trait will lead him
to bear false testimony against his brother and to speak
evil of him, because of his love of falsehood."
As soon as a person gives up his commitment to the truth,
even if only regarding trivial matters or exaggerations
relating to meaningless small talk, he is likely to end up
showing a blatant disregard for what comes out of his mouth,
and there can be no guarantee that he will stick to the
truth even regarding weightier matters, even to the point of
committing perjury.
We have in the past talked in this column about problematic
"norms" of exaggerations which have become a routine part of
our lives. We have to consider carefully how this influences
the atmosphere in our streets and how it affects our
children.
Recently I came across a publication written two years ago
after the tefilloh gathering of hundreds of thousands
at the entrance to Yerushalayim. It was undoubtedly a very
important event, in which the whole chareidi public, headed
by its gedolim, united in a mass gathering of prayer
to our Father in Heaven to thwart the attempts of the anti-
religious public to uproot the Torah via the secular courts.
One of the participants in this gathering decided to publish
a booklet describing his thoughts and feelings in the wake
of the demonstration. It is full of exaggerations and
strange comparisons.
He starts of by saying that "this was a unique historic
event, which will henceforth be commemorated as a most
significant episode in the history of the Jewish nation, a
central event whose significance is not limited to the time
and the place in which it occurred. Just like those
occurrences in history which were later marked as turning
points of elevated and eternal import, note this date:
Sunday the 28th of Shvat, 5759. It is not a date like any
other, but one that will be marked as an historical turning
point forever."
The author compares the gathering to the events of the
generation that went out of Egypt and received the Torah! He
writes, "It is obvious that this glorious event will take
its place in the forefront of momentous and impressive
occasions in the history of the Jewish nation. Our history
is not overflowing with gatherings of this significance. We
may without hesitation classify this event as being of the
same order of importance as the great events of our nation,
both from the point of view of its magnificent content, and
certainly with regard to the number of participants in the
gathering and its repercussions.
"Since krias yam Suf and maamad Har Sinai
there has not been such a great gathering in our history. It
may be compared to Eliyohu at Har Hakarmel (Melochim
I, chapter 18) or Ezra on Rosh Hashonoh in Yerushalayim:
`And all the people gathered themselves together as one man'
(Nechemia 8:1). It is true that those events were
accompanied by prophecy, miracles and marvels, but in
importance and scope we were witness to one of the most
important gatherings in Jewish history. How fortunate we
have been to participate in it. I do not think that since
matan Torah there has been such a large gathering of
people all saying Shema Yisroel together. For our
purposes the assembly may be compared to Eliyohu's
confrontation with the nevi'ei habaal, at the end of
which came the declaration Hashem Hu ho'elokim."
The language of exaggerations knows no bounds, and that
chareidi author, in the middle of the essay, asserts that
this event is worthy of being included in the Tanach.
This sounds unbelievable, but I quote: "If we would consider
this great gathering from the perspective of Knesses
Yisroel and Kudsha Berich Hu, then we would
realize that we are dealing with a momentous, central event
which occurs once every forty or fifty generations. It is a
chapter in Tanach! The Jewish nation records its
history in the Tanach, and such an event would
undoubtedly have taken up a whole chapter in Nevi'im.
The events of Chanukah could already not be included,
because prophecy was no longer prevalent.
"Presumably when Moshiach will come bimheiro
beyomeinu and we will have prophets once again, they, or
perhaps Moshiach himself, will record all the events
that happened to the Jewish nation since the conclusion of
the period of prophecy. The nevi'im recorded all the
events from Creation until Malachi. The events from the
Knesses Hagedola until the redemption will be recorded in
future books which will be added to the 24 existing ones.
This magnificent gathering will surely receive its rightful
place amongst these new chapters of the nevi'im. One
chapter or more will be devoted to describing the events of
that day. This acceptance of ol malchus Shomayim was
of historical significance and reminds us of the acceptance
of the Torah in the days of Mordechai and Esther, except
that in those days the acceptance came about as a result of
the love for Hashem that we felt in the wake of the miracle,
whereas no miracle preceded this gathering: Knesses
Yisroel willingly and lovingly declared that it was
united with Hashem!"
He goes on to express the hope that the gathering will
result in tremendous developments: "We may be certain that a
new period will begin now in which Hakodosh Boruch Hu
will demonstrate His love for His people. In the merit of
our having increased Hashem's name and His glory, Hashem
will favor us with His kindness and mercy. Within a short
period we will feel this in all areas of our life. This
event has changed the face of our times, a new period is
about to begin. The pre- gathering period is not the same as
the post-gathering one."
In conclusion, the author writes: "A bas kol came out
of the gathering and declared, `Whoever was present here, is
invited to [i.e. assured of a place in] the Next World'.
This bas kol was bound to appear: if a bas kol
appeared in honor of a talmid chochom when Rebbi
passed away, all the more so would it appear for such an
occasion."
This booklet is an example of what happens when
exaggerations and hyperbole are used to describe even
positive and important events. If a Torah gathering,
significant as it may have been, is equated with krias
yam Suf and maamad Har Sinai, with Eliyohu at Har
Hakarmel and the acceptance of the Torah in the days of
Mordechai, and to top it all we are assured that it will
become "a chapter in one of the future books which will be
added to the 24 existing books of the Tanach," then
this should ring our alarm bells and alert us to the dangers
inherent in all exaggerations.
As Rabbeinu Yonah says, the obligation to stick to the truth
and keep away from falsehood is not only due to the
immediate practical effects of lies and exaggerations, but
also to the influence of these on the person as a whole,
irrespective of the specific context of the false
statements. Someone who gets used to fabricating or
exaggerating stories, acquires the habit of building a world
of fantasy, which is actually a world of falsehood, created
by one's nonsense and with no relation to the world of
reality.
Let us not treat this topic lightly, wondering what harm can
come from a bit of claptrap. Our rabbonim have taught us
that man is a creature of his actions, and that these
eventually affect his motives and desires. As Rabbeinu Yonah
says, "If you see somebody lying in his speech and
conversation, you may be sure that this trait will lead him
to bear false testimony against his brother."
An innocent exaggeration or some childish fantasy could lead
to real prohibitions such as bearing false testimony. The
above quotations also serve to show us that ludicrous
exaggerations can lead to preposterous comparisons and even
forbidden statements.
All of us must be aware of this point. In our daily
conversations, as well as when we speak in public or print
material for the general public's consumption -- and I
include us, the correspondents of Yated Ne'eman --
let us not use a style of exaggerations and unwarranted
superlatives. Such a style could give our children the
mistaken impression that sticking to the truth is a "high
level" which is only expected of the rare individual,
whereas common speech need not accord with the absolute
truth, chas vesholom.
