Q&A: Is It Permitted to Lie to Waze?
Is It Permitted to Lie to Waze?
Question
What does the Rabbi think about this ruling?
http://www.srugim.co.il/210513-Is it permissible to report on Waze if I’m not the driver? – Rabbi El
Answer
This is, of course, complete nonsense. At most, if he had said there is an issue here of protecting life and safety (and even that is debatable), that would at least be something to discuss. And perhaps there might have been room to discuss theft, since the software was not sold for this use (that a driver would type on it), though that too is easily rejected. But it is absolutely obvious that there is no lying here. I’ve heard nonsense in my life before, but this is definitely a serious contender for first place.
Incidentally, the very halakhic prohibition against lying is itself far from clear-cut (I seem to recall an article by Rabbi Sherlo in one of the early issues of Tzohar about the prohibition of falsehood), but this is not the place to go into it.
Discussion on Answer
It is generally accepted that this is a Torah prohibition. The Tummim even asks about the Talmud in Sanhedrin 9: “So-and-so sodomized me willingly”—he and another witness may join to have him executed; why don’t they disqualify the witness for having joined with the first witness?
Why this was not counted, I do not know. Maybe it is included under the rule of “Judge your fellow with righteousness,” or under the very disqualification of a wicked person from judging or testifying.
In connection with this question, I came across a strange Jewish law in Maimonides, Laws of the Sanhedrin, chapter 22, law 10:
A judge who knows about his colleague that he is a robber or a wicked person is forbidden to join with him, as it is said: “Keep far from a false matter.”
Are we dealing here with a rabbinic prohibition that is merely supported by the verse? Or is this a Torah-level prohibition (and if so, why didn’t he count the prohibition under a negative or positive commandment?)