[Avodah] Keeping Well Away From Sheker

[Zev Sero]

On 2/2/23 06:12, Chana Luntz via Avodah wrote:
> There are lots of cases in halacha where there is a conflict between truth
> and some other value - such as shalom - and it is accepted that truth is
> allowed to bend, despite the pasuk - that is precisely Beit Shammai's
> objection to kala naeh v'chassida - what if she isn't.  And Beit Hillel's
> retort that one is allowed to effectively lie and tell someone they have got
> a great bargain from the marketplace when they haven't.  Also this of Aharon
> and making peace, and Ya'akov's effective lie/misrepresentation to Yitzchak.
> The discussions go on and on.  This is an interesting one, as it is not one
> of the classics discussed - but then, Shlomo haMelech would presumably have
> been dispensing din Melech, not halacha (that was for the Sanhedrin) so it
> might be closer to ensuring the shalom of the realm.

Another one not discussed in the classics, as far as I know, is one 
we've been learning just these weeks -- Moshe's continuing pretense to 
Par'oh that all he wanted was a three-day expedition into the desert, 
with the clear implication (though never explicitly stated) that then 
we'd return to work.

I recently saw someone comment on the time (after `arov) when Par'oh 
proposed that we perform our korbanot in Egypt, and Moshe replied that 
we couldn't do that because the Egyptians would stone us.  This person 
asked why Moshe was afraid of that, when surely they'd been cowed by the 
four makot they'd already got, and if necessary a fifth or sixth would 
take care of it.  He quoted a Chassam Sofer, which he had completely 
misunderstood, in order to make a mussar point; but he missed the major 
flaw in his whole question: the whole thing was a ruse!  The real reason 
Moshe could never agree to such a thing is that it would not achieve his 
real purpose, which was to leave Egypt and never return!  His answer to 
Par'oh had to be consistent with his ruse, but it was not true!  The 
Chassam Sofer merely makes a suggestion for why his answer worked for 
*Par'oh*, but does not assert that this was his true thinking.

So this is another example of Midevar Sheker Tirchak taking second place 
to some other value.

On the original question I agree with RCL that an employee honestly 
expressing support for his employer is not a devar sheker at all, 
because he is not even indirectly implying that he can personally 
confirm the employer's specific factual claims.  Even if he says he 
believes the claims, that does not imply that he has personal knowledge 
of them so it's not a devar sheker.


-- 
Zev Sero            “Were we directed from Washington when to sow
zev at sero.name       and when to reap, we should soon want bread.”
		    –Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.