Q&A: One Who Denies with His Mouth and Is Suspected of Believing in His Heart
One Who Denies with His Mouth and Is Suspected of Believing in His Heart
Question
A strange incident came my way. Someone I know, who has been hit by waves of troubles, says outright that he believes in nothing—not in the Holy One, blessed be He, not in the Torah, and not in its reward. But I strongly suspect that he really does believe, and that in private he even keeps commandments. True, he is religious, from the more laid-back crowd in the synagogue, but not in a way that really stands out. For some reason I suspect that his denial is only lip service. May I count him for a minyan? Is his slaughter kosher? I thought to myself that I have no halakhic obligation to believe him, because a person does not render himself wicked by his own admission. Is that correct?
Answer
There is no connection. “A person does not render himself wicked by his own admission” is a rule in a religious court regarding punishment. In matters of prohibition and permissibility, every person is believed so long as you truly believe him. These are not rules of legal evidence. Therefore, you should clarify the matter with him and find out whether inwardly there is something else. Without having clarified it with him, then if you yourself think that inwardly he does believe, perhaps you may rely on that—but only if you really think that is the situation, and not merely out of doubt.