Q&A: Why Do I Need a Verse? It’s Logical; Attributing a Statement to Someone Who Didn’t Say It
Why Do I Need a Verse? It’s Logical; Attributing a Statement to Someone Who Didn’t Say It
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I remember from your lectures that the Rabbi mentioned two things, and I’d be glad to know where they are mentioned in the literature. (Even if not the exact place—just to know where to look / in which section.)
I remember that the Rabbi brought that the Beit Yosef writes that it is preferable to press the wording rather than the reasoning.
And I also remember that the Rabbi cited one of the halakhic decisors saying that it is permissible to lie and attribute a statement to someone who did not say it, because things are judged on their own merits. Not ad hominem.
I don’t want to trouble the Rabbi to search. If he remembers, I’d be glad if he would write it. Or perhaps my memory has misled me entirely.
Answer
The rule of pressing the wording and not the reasoning:
I heard that this rule is attributed to the Hazon Ish. However, it appears explicitly in Beit Yosef, Yoreh De’ah, section 228. See also the responsa Ish Matzliach, Orach Chayim, section 15, fol. 64d; Rabbi Moshe Levi, Tefillah LeMoshe, vol. 1, p. 4, note 1; and likewise in his Menuchat Ahavah, vol. 1, chapter 3 (end of p. 64). See also Ezra Cohen’s article, “The Pressure of Wording and the Pressure of Substance,” in MeAvnei HaMakom (Yeshivat Beit El), vol. 11, 2000, p. 118.
To lie in the name of a great person: this is an explicit Talmudic passage, and the Magen Avraham brings it as Jewish law in section 156. See column 21, especially the explanation at the end.
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%A9%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%A7%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A8-21/