Q&A: Truth Versus Utility
Truth Versus Utility
Question
Hello Rabbi, I was arguing with a friend and thought I’d direct the question to you. [The question is theoretical at the moment and not practical].
The question came up בעקבות a phenomenon (fairly common) in which rabbis, for example, make inaccurate statements in the name of the Torah, knowingly, because it is useful. I’ll try to explain.
For example, regarding the enlistment of women into the IDF, some say that they are violating a prohibition, even though they themselves do not think so (for now we won’t get into the halakhic question; let’s assume that is the case). The reason for saying this is that they think girls who go to the army will “go bad” or be spiritually corrupted (here too there’s no need to get into the factual question; let’s assume it is true).
I wanted to discuss the question from several angles; I should note that the purely utilitarian angle does not interest me. That is, let’s assume it really will help, and until she is one hundred and twenty she will remain God-fearing, and will never find out that it was a lie, and so on.
I would like to examine it from three perspectives: A. Jewish law. Does someone who acts this way violate a prohibition? B. Ethically. Does the Rabbi think there is harm done to the value of truth (see the different cases below)? C. Freedom. Is it right to infringe (depending on the situations below) on those girls’ freedom to choose?
A. Suppose those rabbis have no arguments that can persuade those girls, but those rabbis are certain they are right. For example, it is clear to them that it will lead to corruption and so on, but those girls do not know reality well enough and so on and will not be persuaded, or they are “locked into” it.
B. Suppose those rabbis do have arguments that would certainly persuade the girls, but they have no way to convey them, for example through media and the like, where it is impossible to communicate a long and complex message. Is it correct to say that here there is no longer any violation of their freedom?
Thank you very much.
Answer
If you were thinking of doing that, then it’s good that you are. 🙂
I agree with all the points you raised. It is forbidden to do this for all the reasons you listed, and more: 1. Whoever does so is lying (though there is no explicit prohibition against lying). 2. There is of course harm to the value of truth. 3. There is an infringement here on the freedom to choose, and one must not do that. 4. There is also "do not add," in that they present something that is not forbidden as though it were forbidden (see Maimonides at the beginning of the laws of rebellious elders).
The two arguments you brought at the end make no difference in my opinion. You are not supposed to make decisions for another person, nor to lie, nor to violate "do not add."
See column 21 on holy lies, and also the latest column (289).