Ask the average lettered Jew: Which instances does the Torah explicitly describe the reward of long life for performing a mitzvah. The odds are heavily that they will respond with Kibud Av VaEim, honoring parents (Sh’mos 20:12), and Shiluach HaKein, sending away the mother bird when taking her chicks (D’varim 22:7).
What they will very likely not mention is that there is a third mitzvah that promises a long life, and that is honesty with weights and measures (D’varim 25:15). In fact, in the next pasuk, the Torah says that whoever uses faulty scales is committing a to’eivah, an abomination. Yes, the same expression that is found by sins of sexual deviance.
Interestingly, the very next commandment in the Torah is to remember the attack of Amalek. Rashi explains the juxtaposition of the two commandments by saying that this teaches that if we are deceitful in our business practices, then we will have to be concerned about the harassment of the enemy.
We tend to blame Jewish calamity on all kinds of easy targets, like laxity in tz’nius (modest dress) or Shabbos observance. Never do you hear that it may be due to laxity in honesty. (In truth, we are not prophets and do not have the right to pinpoint any link between sin and suffering.)
The Maharsha (HaRav Shmuel Eliezer Edeles), sixteenth century classic commentator on the Talmud and its commentaries, writes on the Gemara (K’subos 67a): “And many in this generation gather their wealth through dishonest means and then give from that money to all kinds of charities to enhance their own honor. That money and the resultant charities are ill-gotten, and the wealth will have no lasting value.” This is only one of many such denouncements of deceit that can be cited in traditional sources.
I remember when I first returned home from my yeshivah studies in Israel, a cousin of my father’s living in KGH told me of a well-known religious philanthropist in London who was just found to have committed major fraud and would be facing jail time. I was very idealistic (i.e., naïve) then, and I was incensed and incredulous that a religious Jew could be the cause of such chilul Hashem. The cousin responded, “Just wait. As you grow older, you will see much of this; don’t be so shocked.” Unfortunately, the passage of time found him to be awfully correct.
With this in mind, I wrote an article a few years ago in the Queens Jewish Link (“Orthodoxy, We Have A Problem”). The article focused on the fact that we must get the laws of Choshen Mishpat, the section of the Shulchan Aruch that deals with financial matters, into the syllabus of yeshivos and day schools from the earliest age.
A very fine person in the KGH community, Boruch Delman, businessman and Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim graduate, saw the article and insisted on joining me in an effort to get my idea into reality. So, together we made an appointment to meet with Rabbi David Bernstein of Torah Umesorah to urge that organization to start with publishing a book for children with the purpose of inculcating Jewish youngsters to appreciate the value of honesty. I remained with the book project, and Boruch founded an organization called Sefas Tamim, which is dedicated to emphasizing the importance of honesty, and publishes regularly via email.
It took about six years, but, baruch Hashem, after expending much effort and fundraising, we were finally able to publish Let’s Be Honest, whose purpose is to sensitize children to the concept of honesty via graphics and prose. Artist Tova Leff and author Bracha Goetz, with major input by Rabbi Bernstein and me, did a magnificent job. ArtScroll, as usual, published it in a highly professional manner. They are distributing it to all major Jewish bookstores.
The book is dedicated to the memory of my in-laws Moshe and Connie Buchsbaum, who exemplified in thought and in deed every aspect of honesty. Torah Umesorah hopes that this book will be the kickstart to an ambitious project of making honesty part of the daily curriculum of yeshivos alongside teaching all the other important halachos.
It is my hope and prayer that our commitment to honesty will be an asset to the Jewish People, as we face an implacable enemy in Israel and worldwide. May we hear only good news for am Yisrael. Amein!
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.
