1994
REGAL CUSTOM SEDAN

The Whole Truth
And Nothing But?

RABBI MORTON F. YOLKUT SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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Stock #49331

$15,9

"Plus tax, title, plates, destination fee & doc. fees. Price includes $300 Modern Maturity coupon. If not eligible, add $300 to price shown. All rebates
assigned to dealer.

37911 GRAND RIVER • WEST OF HALSTED • FARMINGTON HILLS

810-471-0800

BUICK

OPEN SATURDAYS SALES AND SERVICE

Treat Him To

10

Comfort

Comfortable slippers
for the holidays!
Available in Black
or
Burgundy.
Sizes 7-13.

Southfield
SUPER STORE

Pontiac/ Waterford
SUPER STORE

On the Corner of
On Ten Mile Road
West of Greenfield Telegraph & Huron

559-7818

334-3917

Royal Oak
CLEARANCE
OUTLET

West Bloomfield

Roseville

Eastland Mall

15219 Mich. Ave.
East of Greenfield

On the Boardwalk
Orchard lake Road
South of Maple

29523 Gra tiot
In Cloth. Whse.
Call for Hours

Entrance 7A
Next to Hudson's
Mall Hours

520 W. 11 Mile

584-3820

626-3362

774-8530

371-2233

547-7684

Dearborn
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Holiday Hours Mon., Thurs. & Fri. 10-9 • Tues., Wed. & Sat. 10-7 • Sun. 12-5

Go easy on your heart and start cutting back on foods
that are high in saturated fat and cholesterol. The
change'll do you good.

ewish tradition has always
emphasized the importance
of truth. In establishing the
basic rules of conduct which
should govern the Jewish society,
the Torah teaches, "Keep away
from any falsehood." The Talmud
declares: "When a person dies
and comes before the Heavenly
Tribunal the very first question
he will be asked is: 'Were you
truthful in all your (business)
dealings?' " And again, "By three
things the world is preserved —
by truth, by justice and by peace."
Yet , we know that many life
experiences are not always pred-
icated on truth. There are occa-
sions when the whole truth
cannot or should not be told. We
call such instances "white lies."
Is it, in fact, necessary for the
truth to be told even though an
adverse reaction (i.e. bruised feel-
ings, severed relationships, ru-
ined reputations) may occur?
When truth collides with other
important values, may it be set
aside?
These questions are answered
by a sensitive rabbinic teaching
on an incident recorded in this
week's sedrah. When Jacob died,
his brothers feared that Joseph
would now hate them and seek
revenge for their earlier misdeeds
against him. They, therefore, in-
formed Joseph that Jacob, prior
to his death, had sent a message
with specific command to forgive
his brothers' sins. When Joseph
heard this, he cried and reas-
sured them that he had no in-
tention of judging them for their
previous actions. What they had
thought were unjust and evil acts,
God had intended as part of His
divine plan. ( Genesis 50:15-20).
Now all of the classical com-
mentaries maintain that Jacob,
in fact, had left no such message
of command prior to his demise.
Rashi comments: "The brothers
deviated from the truth for the
sake of peace." Ramban (Nah-
manides) goes even further and
says: "Jacob was never told of the
sale of Joseph by his brothers.
They did not want to divulge
their misconduct and Joseph, be-
cause of his good nature, also did
not want to tell his father."
Based on an identical inter-
pretation the Midrash suggests
that this fabrication was per-
missible, perhaps, even desirable:
"Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said:
Great is peace, for even the tribes
of Israel uttered a falsehood in or-
der to promote peace between
themselves and Joseph, as it is
written: 'and they sent a mes-
senger 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 this 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 is es-
sential. But they also understood
that, for the good of society, it is
sometimes necessary to set truth
aside. There are select situations
which entitle one to depart from'
the strict adherence to truth.

Shabbat Vayechi:
Genesis 47:28-50:26
I Kings 2:1-12.

Jewish law, contrary to con-
ventional wisdom, has never been
rigid or inflexible. Moral imper-
atives have always been applied
by our sages to the particular sit-
uation. On the basis of the
sources cited above and many
others as well, it can be deduced
that there is no absolute rule re-
lating to the morality of truth.
there are times when it is simply
not moral to tell the truth and,
indeed, when a "white lie" or si-
lence may well be the proper
moral response.
There is a famous Yiddish folk
expression which distills into one
sentence the wisdom of centuries
of Jewish thought and expres-
sion on this subject: "a liggend
to men nit zogen, ober dem emes
daft men nit zogen — one is not
permitted to tell a lie; but nei-
ther is one always required to
tell the whole truth and nothing
but the truth." 0

Temple Plans
Course Offerings

The next session of Temple
Emanu-El's Beginning Hebrew
and Introduction to Judaism
courses will begin Jan. 5.
The beginning Hebrew course
is taught by Rabbi Amy Brodsky
and meets from 7-8 p.m. The In-
troduction to Judaism course is
taught by Rabbi Lane Steinger,
Rabbi Amy Brodsky, Cantor Nor-
man Rose, Temple Educator Ira
Wise, and Jane Hauser.
For information and to regi
ter for the courses, contact the
Temple Emanu-El Education
Center, 967-4023.

