As specimen illustrations of the teachings of the Talmud on this theme, Hamburger quotes these utterances from its pages:  “He who alters his word, at the same time commits idolatry.”  “Three are hated of God:  he who speaks with his mouth otherwise than as he feels with his heart; he who knows of evidence against any one, and does not disclose it,” etc.  “Four cannot appear before God:  the scorner, the hypocrite, the liar, and the slanderer.” “’A just measure thou shalt keep;’ that is, we should not think one thing in our heart, and speak another with our mouth.”  “Seven commit the offense of theft:  he who steals [sneaks into] the good will of another; he who invites his friend to visit him, and does not mean it in his heart; he who offers his neighbor presents, knowing beforehand that he will not receive them,” etc.

And Hamburger adds:  “Every lie, therefore, however excellent the motive, is decidedly forbidden....  In the tract Jebamoth, 63, Raba blames his son for employing a ‘lie of necessity’ (nothluege) to restore peace between his father and his mother....  It is clear that the Talmud decidedly rejects the principle that ’the end justifies the means.’"[1]

[Footnote 1:  Compare also art.  “Falseness” (Falscheit).]

On the other hand, Hamburger cites Rabbi Ishmael, one of the Talmudists, as teaching that a Jew might transgress even the prohibition of idolatry (and lying is, according to Talmudic teaching, equivalent to idolatry) in order to save his life, provided the act was not done in public.  In support of his position, Rabbi Ishmael cited the declaration concerning the statutes of Moses in Leviticus 18:  5, “which if a man do he shall live in them,” and added by way of explanation:  “He [the Israelite] is to live through the law, but is not to die through it."[1]

[Footnote 1:  See Hamburger’s Real-Encyc., II., art.  “Ismael R.”]

And Isaac Abohab, an eminent Spanish rabbi, in his Menorath Hammaor[1] gives other illustrations from the Talmud of the advocacy of special exceptions to the strict law of truthfulness, with a good purpose in view, notwithstanding the sweeping claim to the contrary by Hamburger.  He says:  “Only when it is the intention to bring about peace between men, may anything be altered in discourse; as is taught in the tract Jebamoth.  Rabbi Ilai says, in the name of Rabbi Jehuda, son of Rabbi Simeon:  ’One may alter something in discourse for the sake of establishing harmony.’...  Rabbi Nathan says:  ’This indeed is a duty.’...  Rabbi Ishmael taught:  ’Peace is of such importance that for its sake God even alters facts.’” In each of these cases the rabbi cited misapplies a Bible passage in support of his position.

[Footnote 1:  See German translation by R.J.  Fuerstenthal, Discourse II., I.]

Isaac Abohab adds:  “In like manner the rabbis say that one may praise a bride in the presence of her bridegroom, and say that she is handsome and devout, when she is neither, if the intention predominates to make her attractive in the eyes of her bridegroom.  Nevertheless a man is not to tell lies even in trifling matters, lest lying should come to be a habit with him, as is warned against in the tract Jebamoth.”