14 Feb PARSHAS MISHPATIM: TWO PROMISES YOU CAN BANK ON

HONESTY IS THE
TORAH POLICY
The pasuk states in
this week’s parsha,
“From a matter of
falsehood distance
yourself.” [Shemos 23:7] This is the Torah’s
admonition about being truthful and honest.
The commentaries point out that this is the
only midah [character trait] from which the
Torah specifically instructs us to distance
ourselves (‘Tirchak‘). We are commanded to
stay as far away as possible from sheker
[falsehood]. Do not skirt the truth; run away
from sheker.
It is well known that if Rav Yaakov
Kamenetsky exemplified one particular
midah), it was his pursuit of truth (derishas
ha’Emes). I once read in a biography that as
someone whose name was Yaakov, he took it
upon himself to excel in the attribute of
pursuing truth in all his dealings as we know
the Patriarch Yaakov typified the
characteristic of truth (Titen Emes l’Yakov
[Micha 7:20]).

I would like to relate two stories about this
great Rosh Yeshiva that demonstrate his
adherence to the midah of Emes [truth].
A fellow came to Rav Yaakov and asked
him the following shaylah [question]: He
wished to take off from his job on the day of
Purim. Although Purim is only a rabbinic
holiday and strictly speaking work is not
prohibited, he wanted to celebrate the day as
it should be celebrated, not to come home
late in the afternoon and run through
perfunctory fulfillment of the day’s rituals.
Under normal circumstances, his employer
allowed employees to take a personal leave
day but his company at that time was
exceedingly busy and they had made a
temporary policy that they were not allowing
personal leave days during this busy period.
So, he went to Rav Yaakov and asked if he
might be able to take it as a sick day. He felt
that he had a couple of justifications for
requesting such an absence on those grounds.
First of all, Purim follows Ta’anis Esther
which is a fast day which leaves a person a
bit weak and fatigued. Second of all, Purim
is a time which, due to all the drinking and

feasting done on that day, leaves
nobody feeling very good, certainly
not by later in the day.
This is bending the truth somewhat
because he was not really sick and
strictly speaking, sick days are reserved
for people who are really sick. How
did Rav Yaakov answer this Shaylah?
Did he tell him to take off the day and
observe Purim as a Jew should observe
it and bend the truth, or otherwise?
Rav Yaakov instructed him that Purim is a
Rabbinic holiday and “You shall distance
yourself from falsehood” is a Biblical
command. It is a no brainer. Go to work and
fulfill the obligations of Purim before or
after work to the best of your ability. Work
on Purim rather than say something that is
not true.
When I told over this incident in one of my
speaking engagements, a person from the
audience came over to me and told me
another story about Rav Yaakov:
When Rav Yaakov was rav in Toronto, the
shul presented him with a silver platter as a
Purim present for Purim. A few days
after Purim, one of the shul members
saw Rav Kamenetsky in a Toronto
Pawn Shop with this very same silver
platter. The member thought it highly
inappropriate. The shul gave their
rabbi a gift and he went to pawn it!
The member was shocked. He went
back and told other members of the
shul and the Board of Directors. The
Baale Batim, being Baale Batim, came
to Rav Yaakov and asked him “What
kind of business is this – you went to
pawn our gift in a pawn shop?”
In olden times a Rav did not get a
salary. He got “Rabbonishe Gelt“.
What’s “Rabbonishe Gelt“? When you
go to the Rav to sell your Chometz,
you slip him a little gift. For funerals,
weddings, and other special occasions,
members gave their Rav money. Rav
Yaakov told the “Committee of
Inquiry” that part of “Rabbonishe
Gelt” is when the congregation gives
their rabbi a gift before Purim. That
being the case, he told them, this was
part of his salary. If it is part of his
salary, he felt, he needed to declare it
on his Income Tax form as earned
income. “I need to know how much
the silver platter is worth so I know
how much to declare.” So, he took it
into the pawn shop to assess the fair
market value of the platter so that he
could accurately record it as part of his
income tax declaration.

This is another example of the honesty of
Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky. When I told over
this second story about honesty of Gedolei
Yisrael, another person from the audience
came up to me and told me a third such story
– this one about Rav Aharon Soloveitchik,
z”l.
Rav Aharon Soloveitchik for many years
commuted from Chicago to New York. After
his brother Rav Yosef Baer Soloveitchik,
stopped giving the shiur in Yeshivas
Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanon, Rav Aharon
used to give the shiur there. He was also the
Rav haMachshir for Streits’ Matzah. In
short, he commuted on a weekly basis
between his home in Chicago and New York
City.
One time he came to the airport with his
mother-in-law, who was travelling with him
that day and he came up to the ticket counter
and ordered two tickets. The agent behind
the counter said “Rabbi, you are in luck! We
are having a special – Spouses Fly for Free
– today!” Rav Aharon responded, “This is
not my wife, this is my mother-in-law.” The
agent told him, “Do not worry. We do not
check marriage licenses.” He questioned the
clerk – “Do you have permission to do that?”
She hemmed and hawed. Rav Soloveitchik
then asked to see her supervisor. The
supervisor also told him, “Do not worry. We
never check. You are a male and she is a
female. Take the special.” Rav Aharon then
again questioned the supervisor: Do you
have permission from the company to do
that? She could not tell him definitively that
she had permission from the company to
knowingly give the Spouses Fly Free special
to a couple that were not husband and wife
so Rav Aharon he refused to accept the
discounted tickets.
This is Eirlichkeit [honesty]. This is
fulfillment of “M’Dvar Sheker Tirchak.”
I am not paskening whether or not we are
strictly obligated to turn down such an offer
if we are travelling with our daughters or
mothers-in-law rather than our wives, but it
is certainly an Eirlichkeit. Certainly, when it
is an out and out falsehood, when it is clearly
bending the truth, we indeed need to distance
ourselves.