Mitzvah d'var

Shabbat Shalom.

My torah portion, Lech L'cha, tells the story of Abraham leaving his land to go to Canaan. God calls upon Abraham and tells him to leave the land he lives in to go somewhere new, telling him he will bless him, and he will be a blessing. Abraham took with him his wife Sarah, his brother’s son Lot, and all their belongings. They arrived in Canaan, where God spoke to Abraham, stating that he was giving this land to Abraham and his descendants. There was a famine in the land, so Abraham decided to go stay in Egypt.

When they had almost arrived in Egypt, Abraham said to his wife “look now- I know what a beautiful woman you are! So when the Egyptians see you and say ‘this is his wife’ they may kill me; but you they shall keep alive. Please say that you are my sister so that on your account it may go well for me, and my life may be spared because of you.” 

A controversial part of this portion was Abraham lying to the Egyptians, telling Sarah to claim she was his sister. Many commentaries that I have read have asked “When is it okay to lie, is it fine if it’s a white lie,” and so on and so forth. Rabbi Nachmanides believes that Abraham “committed a great sin” by lying about his wife. I personally disagree with this. Abraham had a very logical and good reason for lying. By having Sarah make a simple statement that she was his sister, he potentially saved both him and Sarah's life. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch had a similar opinion as me, and even stated that he believed Abraham's actions were honorable. It turns out that this wasn't even fully a lie. Sarah was actually Abraham's niece, and relatives that closely related would often be referred to as “brother” and “sister.”  

See the thing is, Abraham wasn't really the one telling the lie. He basically just asked his wife to lie for him, thus putting all his power in her hands. Back then women had no power, so this was probably a very big deal at the time. Sarah chose to lie, which ended up potentially saving her and Abraham's life. 

This brings up things like doing the wrong thing for the right reason, and vice versa. Was Sarah lying really doing the wrong thing? Was she being selfish and committing a sin? Or was she just doing what needed to be done to keep her and her husband safe? 

An example of this that always comes to mind for me is the classic “do I look good?” A question that family or friends ask. theoretically they could look awful, but do you tell them that? You could risk your relationship with this person (probably not permanently, but nonetheless), or you could just tell them they look great. This may not be the case, but maybe they'd have some more self confidence and wouldn't get mad at you. 

Lying is circumstantial. In this case, and in the case of Sarah and Abraham, it's probably completely fine. Certainly in a life or death situation you'd obviously pick the option that isn't going to get you killed. During the Holocaust, thousands of lies were told by Jews and righteous Gentiles, and thousands of lives were saved because of telling lies and keeping secrets.  

If you were to lie in order to get out of something you needed to do, get more money or more power, that wouldn't really be reasonable or logical. But when it comes to life or death, as in the case of Abraham and Sarah, I believe lying is okay. 

At the end of the day, there are times when an outright lie can save a life. Is it possible that doing the wrong thing like telling a lie for the right reason is morally acceptable?

Shabbat Shalom.