by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Sefas Tamim Foundation

QUESTION:  There is a story that just went viral because it was on Rabbi Eli Stefansky’s Daf Yomi shiur on Bava Basra daf 166 which was featured on (the newly popular) CBN. It has to do with lying and although Rabbi Stefansky related the story, he did not state whether it was halachically permitted for the man to do what he did.

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Apparently, someone was travelling on an erev Shabbos from Chicago to New York.  He knows that he should not be travelling on Erev Shabbos but he made a calculation that it is only an hour and a half flight to New York.  What could go wrong?

The plane is then delayed for 40 minutes.  And then there is a delay of another hour until the captain finally got on the speaker and announced that the president of the United States is planning a landing and there will be delays, but he does not know how long the delay will be.  The man had misgivings about his decision to have travelled on an Erev Shabbos.

He tries to get off the plane, but they do not allow him to get off.  Now what?

He realizes that he will be landing at La Guardia airport and that it would be after Shkiyah. He comes up with an idea:  He grabs his chest and groans. The stewardess comes over and asks what is wrong.  He states that there is tightness all over his chest. The stewardess asks if there is a doctor on the plane.  A doctor raised her hand and diagnosed that the man was having a heart attack.  As she wheels him out and off the plane in a wheel chair, when they reach the open area, the man gets up and says, “I am feeling great!”  He then, presumably, went back to his Chicago lodgings.  (Parenthetically, it seems that the doctor who wheeled him out related the story a year later and that she was also a frum Jew.) I am not sure if the story is true, but was this permitted?

ANSWER:  It is an interesting question.

First and foremost, one should do one’s best to avoid all falsehood even if it is for the sake of a mitzvah (commandment) or to avoid a prohibition.  One should try and figure out a way to avoid lying even in situations where it is permitted, because a person might become accustomed to lying and could end up lying even when not necessary.

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However, in a case where one cannot say the truth at all, such as in this case –  it would technically be permitted to deviate from the truth when it is done completely for the sake of Heaven, in order to avoid transgressing a prohibition.   There is one caveat here that would make a distinction between this case and the other cases where it would be permitted – but first let’s see that this principle is well-established in halacha, as evidenced by the following  authoritative sources:  Rav Elyashiv zt”l cited in Ashrei HaIsh (Vol. I p. 195) writes that one is permitted to lie in order to avoid a prohibition.  This is also the ruling in Shulchan Gavoah OC 565:10 and the Kaf HaChaim 565:36.

And now the caveat.  If there is a possibility of Chillul Hashem, which in this case there is – then clearly one should not lie.  The preferred method to deal with it is to explain to the stewardess that according to Jewish law, he would be obligated to stay in the airport for the entire Sabbath upon his rrival in New York on account of the concept of Tchumim.  Only if there was a life-threatening danger would he be allowed to leave.  He may not even get into an Uber or cab. This is the halacha (See Orchos Shabbos Vol. III p. 297).  He should also, always make sure to never leave on a Friday without a number of hours to spare, because there are always unanticipated delays.  Hopefully, the story was not a true story.

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