TORAH PORTION

Truth

Continued from preceding page

Wall Street can wait a year.
Law School can wait a year.
BUT ISRAEL CAN'T WAIT!
BE A PART OF HISTORY

f

I

S

OTZMA

(Now in its sixth year)

• It's a 10-month fellowship program in Israel for only $1,000.*
'It's travel, study, work and exploration.
• It's hard. It's fun. It's the best adventure you'll ever have.
'It's for outstanding young men and women, age 19-24.
It's easy to find out more.

Contact

Sivan Maas, Israel Program Center

5500

W

the sale of Joseph by his
brothers. They did not want to
divulge their misconduct and
Joseph, because of his good
nature, also did not wish to
tell his father."
Based upon an identical in-
terpretation, the Midrash
suggests that their fabrica-
tion was permissible; perhaps,
even desirable: "Rabbi
Shimon ben Gamliel said:
Great is peace, for even the
tribes uttered a falsehood in
order to promote peace be-
tween themselves and
Joseph, as it is written: and
they sent a messenger unto
Joseph saying: Thy father did
command. Where did he utter
such a command? We do not
find that he so commanded."
(Bereshit Rabba 100:9). And
the Talmud using the same
biblical source adds: "It is
permissible for a man to
deviate from the true facts in
the interest of peace." (B.T.
Yevamot 65b).
Our rabbis understood that,
for the good of society, truth
was essential. They also
understood that, for the good
of society, it is sometimes

necessary to set truth aside.
There are particular situa-
tions which entitle one to
depart from the strict
adherence to truth.
Jewish law, contrary to con-
ventional wisdom, has never
been rigid or inflexible. Moral
imperatives have always been
applied by our sages to the
particular situation. On the
basis of the sources cited
above and many others as
well, it can be deduced that
there is no absolute rule
relating to the morality of
truth. There are times when
it is not moral to tell the truth
and, indeed when a "white
lie" or silence may well be the
preferred moral response.

There is a famous Yiddish
folk expression which distills
into one sentence the essence
of centuries of Jewish thought
and experience on this sub-
ject: A liggend to men nit
zogen, ober dem ernes darf
men nit zogen — One is not
permitted to tell a lie; but
neither is one always re-
quired to tell the whole truth
and nothing but the truth."

❑

Maple Road • West Bloomfield, MI 48322

(313) 661.5440

Canada Anti-Hate Laws
Upheld By High Court

*In Michigan, a project of the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit. Funded
by United Jewish Charities in partnership with the Jewish Welfare
Federation and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

41

GREAT GIFT IDEA!

FIGHT
THE BIG "F"...

Remote Car Starter

FURNITURE
FADING
STOPS
ULTRA VIOLET

You can step into a warm and
defrosted car in winter as
many times as you wish!

Starts your car without keys
from indoors remotely up to
600 ft. from the car.

• One Year Warranty

• Transfers easily to a new
car at trade-in time. Auto-
matic timer shuts car off
in 13 to 15 minutes.

• Safety feature prevents
car theft.

• Pumps gas pedal to set
choke for cold starts.

U.S. (313)

563.2900 (313) 5627146 P.O. Box 2485, Dearborn 48124
Fax (313) 562.5662
c C aAll, (519) 948.1991

VISA & MASTERCARD ACCEPTED

Advertising in The Jewish News
Gets Results
Place Your Ad Today.
Call 354-6060

40

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1990

up to

Marlereard

.1

/!4

99 0 /0

Seymour Zate

537.7900

Solar Sales, Inc
— Since 1969 —

Contemporary
Women's Fashions

YEAR END
CLEARANCE
SALE!

<A6 ,0-1keadl

855-4464

HUNTERS SQUARE FARMINGTON HILLS

Ottawa (JTA) — The
Canadian Supreme Court
has upheld the validity of
the country's anti-hate laws.
In their landmark 4 to 3
decision Dec. 13, the justices
found that although the
statute may technically
violate 'the constitution's
freedom of expression
clause, there should be a
"reasonable limit" on
freedom of speech in a just
society.
The federal anti-hate law
is reasonably and demon-
strably justified and
therefore will be allowed to
stand "in the interests" of a
free and democratic society,
Canada's highest tribunal
decided.
The Canadian Jewish
Congress and the provinces
of Alberta, Ontario, Quebec,
Manitoba and New
Brunswick had argued that
the law is essential in a
multicultural society.
The League for Human
Rights of B'nai Brith
Canada applauded the deci-
sion but, according • to its
counsel, David Matas, it re-
mains "convinced that the
present law is not strong
enough."
Specifically, the League
said, Holocaust denial
should be covered under the

Criminal Code and certain
available defenses should be
removed.
The League, along with
Inter Amicus, the Women's
Legal Education and Action
Fund and the Canadian
Civil Liberties Association,
were interveners in two
cases where the anti-hate
law was invoked.
The validity of the legisla-
tion had been challenged
before the court by former
Eckville, Alberta, high-
school teacher Jim Keegstra
and by Donald Andrews and
Robert Smith of the white
supremacist Nationalist
Party.
Mr. Keegstra was con-
victed in 1983 of promoting
hatred of Jews in the social
studies classes he taught, by
advancing the view that
Jews were the cause of all
evil and their goal was world
domination and conspiracy
against Christianity.
Andrews and Smith were
convicted under the same
section of the Criminal Code
for publishing the National
Reporter, a limited circula-
tion publication which
claimed that non-whites
were "inferior, unclean and
responsible for violent
crime."

