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Our Rabbi's Message

January 2^nd 2009

The Torah asks us to understand the dimensions of truth. We are given no answers to that conundrum because truth is such a difficult concept to define. We live in a world where nothing is as it appears to be, and consequently that which we think is true is often false. Or that which we consider true is often degrees from absolute truth. The very basis of our existence is, according to those who study quantum physics, based more on probability than absolute truth!

Even the Torah does not define truth. When God lies in the Torah, we are forced to question the very nature and worth of what we believe to be true. When Abraham lies, especially to his son when they are walking up Mount Moriah where Abraham plans to sacrifice his son, Isaac, we are forced to recognize the consequences of untruth and of lies. When we consider the dishonest acts and words of Jacob during all of his life, we are forced to ask ourselves if correct talk is always honest talk.

The Torah portion which we read this week begins with words that can be described as puffing and perhaps be defined as lying. Jacob's sons say to Joseph, who they do not recognize as their brother that he is like Pharaoh. Well, Joseph had much power. He was vice regent, but he was not Pharaoh. He was defined as such because Joseph's brother wanted to be on his good side. They thought that they could get more from him if they described him in dishonest terms.

Of course, one could say that they just defined Joseph in ways that Joseph thought about himself, or in ways that they wanted Joseph to think about himself. It that was so, than the words they used were not lies. If, however, they just used words to bring Joseph to their way of thinking, they were lying. What they did with their words cannot be precisely defined. One cannot say with certainty that they were lying or they were telling the truth.

So in this story we are left with an unsolvable question trying to determine what is a lie and what is the truth.