The Danger of “White Lies” (Day 120 - Orchos Tzaddikim | Falsehood 2)

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.

And now my dear friends we continue on the top of page 688 in the treasure for life edition of the orcha siddiqum the ways of the righteous Day number 120 hasheni. What is the second type of falsehood? hameshaker ve'en b'guf hasheker nezek l'chavir So what's about a white lie a white lie? What why do people call it a white lie because it's like it's inconsequential. It doesn't bother anybody for example
if you tell your friend you telling over a story and then you exaggerate or you you give facts that Aren't really facts you include it in your story and it just You know, it just makes the story more exciting or you know, but it doesn't really change the the story it doesn't change the the fact or the basis of it doesn't change the the Means no one is hurt by it. You're not causing anyone pain
ach miska ve'en l'hatos chavir k'dei she'ya min bo v'yiftach bo v'lo yishamir mimenu Why is the person saying this to curry favor with their friends or that the person should believe or trust them now? Or the person shouldn't should be off guard Shouldn't hold up their guard Against them because like we're just like, you know, I was able to build their Their build credibility credibility in their eyes or I was able to to you know Build a trust with them. Ve'oz yu'chal zeh la'hadiach olav ros
And then what as a result of that this deception you can now take advantage of this person Even if you don't. K'mo she'nemar b'piv shalom Yisra'eyu Yida'ber u'b'kir bo yosim arbo. As the verse states in Jeremiah one speaks peace peaceably To his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in ambush That means now you can make the other person very vulnerable because you built their trust and their guard is down Ve'af be'ein melech basav adam nis'av ha'sheker
Also, it is despicable in the eyes of the human king the king of flesh and blood also Is Disgusted by falsehood as it is written To'av as melech ha'masos resha, ritzon melech ha'msif se tzedek The action of wickedness is an abomination of kings. We're talking about falsehood and Righteous lips are the desire of kings. Tell me the truth. Have you ever wonder, you know Presidents kings leaders have advisors Now they have advisors they're not the goal of those advisors are not to be yes men and
The goal of those advisors are not to have their ideologies Lined up per se with that leader, but rather they're supposed to sometimes be contrary to that leader Because you want the truth you want to know how it's going to be perceived you want to know how it's gonna play out everyone has their own perspective and If you're the advisor to a king or to a ruler or to a president and you just say yeah
Just just like you think I think the same way as you just giving a rubber stamp to their feelings You're not doing good for them Because they need to have the truth of an opposing perspective So what is the third type of lie? ha'shlishi ha'mishakeh be'chaveiro lo ligzol mimenot davar shu'hu shalo ach hu ro'et tova she'asida lovo le'chaveiro v'hu mechazar achar oso tova le'kachas eilov b'sheko be'ramos So he says what's the third category of lie? It consists of Those who lie to their fellow man
Not to steal from him. What is his but eyeing their fellow fellow man's perspective good and Praying upon it to seize it through falsehood and deceit So, you know stealing their business deal hearing, you know, sometimes people do this they're like, you know Tell me tell me something new about your business Tell me something just so that they can get a new client just so that they can take something Take something away that isn't their client per se, but it's a perspective client that now I'm gonna make mine
right, so I'm not taking something away from them, but I'm just Pushing that favor my way Or they may speak lies O yida b'shekarem le'chaveiro ad she'yiten le'matona He speaks falsehood to his fellow man until he gives him and gives him a gift as by giving him false reports Which it which elicit gifts from him and the like presenting false statements about an organization for example Someone who's fundraising and they give something which is false. And now someone says wow, you're doing all of this
I got to support you. I got to give you a donation But really those things don't exist. This is a falsehood. This is this is a terrible thing v'kayotze b'zeh o'inin v'omra b'seinu z'chon le'vrocha ha'machalif b'devarav ki'ilu oved avodah zorav As the Talmud states one who employs deception is akin to an idol worshiper sheneh maru u'la yimusheini ovi ve'ayisi be'enav ki'metateah As the verse states in Genesis Perhaps my father will feel me and I will appear to him as a deceiver
v'nemar al avodah zorav, what does it say about idolatry? heval he'mo ma'aseh ta'tuim They are vanity a work of deception v'lav dafka ki'ilu oved avodah zorav ma'mash el ha'dimyon al haktsas ki'hu nistar b'sheka v'nezer b'shov So what is it what's the comparison that we're saying to idolatry? It is not as if he actually served idols. The analogy is similar in that He hides in falsehood and is assisted through deceit This trickery that's hidden It's not
You know, it's like the the Jewish people are committed to something which is really really phenomenal Really phenomenal and I think it's only the Jewish people that have this and that is truth What do I mean? In Judaism we question everything If you look at the Talmud, the Talmud doesn't have a line a single line in the Talmud that isn't questioning something Because if your goal is truth Then you're in the endless pursuit of verification of that truth
There are as we know there are other religions that don't allow questions because it's a leap of faith Or if you ask a question, you're an infidel you're questioning the faith we're gonna wage jihad against you because you're questioning it and The questioning of it is a disrespect That's not the way it is in Judaism. It's not a disrespect on the contrary when you're verifying the truth It's a honor Because the truth will stand we're not worried about it all falling apart
Because you're pressing for the truth. Oh Stop asking questions. No such thing You don't see this ever in the Talmud ever who would say just you know, what stop you cornered me and leave me alone Okay, it is what it is because I said so there's no such thing No such thing in the entire Talmud all 2711 pages of Talmud Not one time does it say that on the contrary The Talmud always goes further and further and further into explaining
Till you go to the verse in the Torah That you see. Oh, okay Here's the proof here's the proof here's the verification and That's why we continue because we continue asking questions because we're in a deliberate Pursuit of What is the truth? That's what we want. That's it. We want what is the truth? Give me the truth and nothing but the truth, okay? HaRevi, what's the fourth type of? Falsehood. HaMeshake b'sipur dvaram she-shamah Where you relate things that you heard
Falsely. U'machalif miktasam u'miskavin lahachlif and you deliberately distort some of them Ve'ein lo shum revach b'os haSheker and there's no benefit that comes out of this of these lies nor do they Damage others. It's similar to what we mentioned mentioned before. Ba'mim shum misaper dvarim Shehu bodech kolam milibo or sometimes a person can make everything up It's all a fictitious story that never happened. Ve'yesh lo oneh she'orav sheker b'lotu elas There's some times that you can meet people
Hopefully rare, but there are some people who cannot help themselves. They have to lie. They can't help themselves You know, you went to the pizza shop great. And what did you get? It's not it's inconsequential doesn't make a difference. They can't say the truth. They can't help themselves There are people like that The weird is it's just it doesn't damage anybody It's just they can't they can't help themselves but say something which is ve'yesh lo oneh such a person Who just lies like that? Who speaks the untruth?
There's a punishment to this. She'orav sheker b'lotu elas. He who loves falsehood Even though it serves no end Ve'al ze'om shlomo melech. And this is what King Salman of blessed memory said in Proverbs. Yafiyach gizavim eid sheker. A false witness spouting lies Meaning what does that mean? Peirush? Im tira b'nodim she yafiyach gizavim bidvarov, yesh lechol leidah shezos hamidet teviyeh ulohoy eid sheker be'achiv Mach mashu oef sheker. He says meaning if you see someone spouting lies like that just senseless lies meaningless lies
Know that this trait will lead him to testify falsely against his brother as a result of his love of falsehood He can't help himself. You cannot trust such a person because they will always let you down Why? They just love falsehood. They love lies Ve'yesh hanashem shemeh achlifim miktzas devarim she'shamu Pliidas, some people unwillingly Distort part of what they hear because they don't pay attention when they are listening Lachkar alamit husam. They don't
Investigate and examine the truthfulness of what they what is being said. Gam zo midoro. This is also not a good trait Ve'al zeh omar shlom ha-melech, and this on this King Solomon said, ol ha-vashalom, of blessed memory, ve'ish shomeh ala netzach yidaber But the man who listens shall speak forever What does that mean? Peirush? Mishin nosin leiv l'shmoah, someone who pays attention Lahav in toch ha-na'inin va'advor ha-ma'shi yisapru What does that mean? It means when you hear something don't just Hear it, be attentive
Understand the essence of what is being said Clarify, sheh lo yimtza b'fiv Lashon sheker, that a person should investigate that he not be lying when he repeats it Oso ho'ish la netzach yidaber, such a person will speak forever. Why? Ki yis'avu b'nei adam l'shmoah devarav, v'lo yig'aru bo al devarav Because people will trust such a person because they know that he backs up what he says and They will rely on his words Because they know that what they hear is truthful and
They will not rebuke him for them because they know it's truth So think of the media. How does someone as a reporter Get credibility? Not because they're on the loudest Microphone we see that with outlets that are not reliable and The people don't have credibility even though they have a bigger a bigger footprint out there in the world but typically what happens is when someone says something and you see that they're accurate and they're correct and they're and they're Diligent in proving their their facts
Once and again and again and again and again, so then you gain trust and you say okay such a person I want to hear what they have to say Then you have people who just give uncorroborated stories. They give with no sources. They give with with unidentified unverified and unnamed sources and that's usually Fake and and and false and this is something that a person needs to be very very very cautious about
It doesn't mean you should listen to people on either side of the aisle. You should just Seek out the truth Investigate the truth. What is the fifth type of falsehood? HaOmer le chaveir she yeitev lo O she yiten lo matona. A fifth category consists of those who tell their fellow that they will benefit him I'll give you something or Give him a gift or assist them in some way not saying so in a manner that reassures him and while speaking
Thinking in their heart not to give means yeah I'll I can't even tell you how many times I've heard this from people who have gotten jobs with the person employing them Took advantage of them by saying you know what you can make so this is how much money you can make in our company And and you can you can go so far in this company and you know, you know Obviously it all depends on what you bring in
But we will you know, we will and in their heart they know in the heart of hearts They know they'll never gonna give this person that amount. They're never gonna reward them with that kind of money They're never gonna give them that bonus They're never gonna give them that that but they're saying it to try to persuade them to take the job with them About this our rabbi said he should not say one thing with his mouth and another with his heart
I'll zelma rabbi Hussain Hushalo yidaber echad bepeh v'echad beleif a person should be very very cautious not to be a Flatterer what is a flatterer? Flatterer we think is someone who will flatter somebody to get a curry favor But it is so also if you say something that you don't believe Echad bepeh v'echad beleif you're saying one thing in a few words, but really something different with your heart
You don't believe what you're saying and you're not gonna follow through with it. Therefore I say just tell us this is the fifth Falsehood that a person needs to stay away from my dear friends. We're going to continue with this hopefully either later this week or next week we'll continue with the continuation of the sixth Falsehood which is on day number 121 my dear friends have a magnificent day and thank you so much for joining us today

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The Danger of “White Lies” (Day 120 - Orchos Tzaddikim | Falsehood 2)