(ה) אמר רבי סימון: בשעה שבא הקב"ה לבראת את אדם הראשון, נעשו מלאכי השרת כיתים כיתים, וחבורות חבורות, מהם אומרים: אל יברא, ומהם אומרים: יברא, הדא הוא דכתיב (תהלים פה): חסד ואמת נפגשו צדק ושלום נשקו. חסד אומר: יברא, שהוא גומל חסדים. ואמת אומר: אל יברא, שכולו שקרים. צדק אומר: יברא, שהוא עושה צדקות. שלום אומר: אל יברא, דכוליה קטטה. מה עשה הקדוש ברוך הוא? נטל אמת והשליכו לארץ, הדא הוא דכתיב (דניאל ח): ותשלך אמת ארצה. אמרו מלאכי השרת לפני הקב"ה: רבון העולמים! מה אתה מבזה תכסיס אלטיכסייה שלך? תעלה אמת מן הארץ, הדא הוא דכתיב (תהלים פה): אמת מארץ תצמח.
(5) Rabbi Simon said: At the time when the Holy Blessed One came to create the first man, the ministering angels formed themselves into groups, some saying 'man should not be created' and some saying 'man should be created.' As it says: "Kindness and Truth met; Justice and Peace kissed" (Psalms 85:11). Kindness said: man should be created because he does acts of kindness, and Truth said: man should not be created, because he is all lies. Justice said: man should be created because he does just acts, and Peace said: man should not be created because he is all quarrels.
What did the Holy Blessed One do? God took Truth and threw him to the ground, as it says: "And Truth was thrown to the ground" (Daniel 8:12). The ministering angels said before the Blessed Holy One: Master of the Universe: why are You disgracing the chief of your court ceremonies - bring Truth back from the ground! As it says: "Truth will grow from the ground" (Psalms 85:12).
In my view, we should explain the midrash’s conclusion based on the verse it cites at the end of this passage: “Truth shall grow from the earth.” God does not retract His previous casting of Truth to the earth; Truth remains cast down. God responds to the angels that casting Truth to the earth does not disgrace it, because “Truth shall grow from the earth.”
The ministering angels thought that Truth must be complete and absolute, existing in the heavens in all its purity without any contact with a deficient, decadent world. God answers that there is another kind of truth, a truth that grows from the earth, from out of falsehood. Indeed, such truth not only does not prevent man’s creation, but constitutes the very purpose and goal of man’s creation.
The angels, in accordance with the role they so often play in the midrash, express the simple and logical view: falsehood and truth are inherently contradictory. In the mathematics of the angels, something deficient is always worth less than something perfect.
God recognizes a much more complex reality, wherein there is a kind of truth that originates from falsehood, or at least from imperfection. In other words, the Almighty seeks the value of process. God created the world in order to achieve the value of progress toward perfection, in addition to the value in that which is perfect and absolute. There is value in the fact that the human being, in his state of imperfection, progressively draws closer to absolute truth. This value has no place in the world of the angels; the realm of objective truth exists there at the highest level, but is static and frozen. The creation of man, who is “completely deceitful,” does not run in opposition to the truth that grows from the earth. To the contrary, the deficient, flawed foundation is necessary for the achievement of this kind of truth. Only the imperfect can form the basis of growth.
In His Mercy: Understanding the Thirteen Midot (Kindle1731-1746).
Rav Ezra Bick, a Ram at Yeshivat Har Etzion since his aliya from New York in 1977 years ago. Rav Bick earned his Semicha from Yeshiva University, and holds an M.S. degree in Jewish Philosophy from YU and a Master's degree in Philosophy from Columbia University.
Midrash Rabbah 8,5 relates that at the time when G’d was about to create the physical universe containing man, Truth objected, saying that man would be a corrupt being; as a punishment, i.e. means of educating Truth, G’d condemned Truth to descend to earth and “live” there.
In order to comprehend the meaning of the Midrash we need to remember that lying, the opposite of truth- is a sin which is in a category by itself, as people known to be liars will find it difficult if not impossible to be accepted in society even in this imperfect world where most people indulge in one sin or another. If someone desecrates the Sabbath, this will not be held against him by most of his peers who feel that it is a matter between him and G’d. If someone deliberately hurts others bodily, or even commits murder, the courts will punish him accordingly. In other words, there is a built in incentive on this earth for people not to commit murder, etc., as they know they will pay a heavy price when found out.
Lying, because it is difficult for the courts to deal with, is dealt with by consensus of one’s peers who will shun the company of known liars. Sending “truth” to earth was G’d’s way of providing incentives for potential liars to be truthful, as otherwise they would be ostracised by their peers. The message of the Midrash is that without “Truth” the human species would not survive for long.
[In other words, rather than seeing in the Midrash above a “punishment” for truth having opposed the Creator, our author sees in it an acknowledgment by G’d that “Truth” in opposing the creation of the human species had a valid point, and He appointed “Truth” to be active on earth in order to minimize the potential danger to the whole species if too many people were to make lies their way of life. Ed.] The message of the Midrash is that without “Truth” the human species would not survive for long.
אמר רבא מריש הוה אמינא ליכא קושטא בעלמא אמר לי ההוא מרבנן ורב טבות שמיה ואמרי לה רב טביומי שמיה דאי הוו יהבי ליה כל חללי דעלמא לא הוה משני בדבוריה זימנא חדא איקלעי לההוא אתרא וקושטא שמיה ולא הוו משני בדיבורייהו ולא הוה מיית איניש מהתם בלא זימניה נסיבי איתתא מינהון והוו לי תרתין בנין מינה יומא חד הוה יתבא דביתהו וקא חייפא רישה אתאי שיבבתה טרפא אדשא סבר לאו אורח ארעא אמר לה ליתא הכא שכיבו ליה תרתין בנין אתו אינשי דאתרא לקמיה אמרו ליה מאי האי אמר להו הכי הוה מעשה א"ל במטותא מינך פוק מאתרין ולא תגרי בהו מותנא בהנך אינשי
Said Rava: I used to think there is no truth in the whole world. A certain rabbi, whose name was Rav Tvut (and some say his name was Rav Tavyomi) that if the whole world filled with gold would be given to him, he would not change his word. It happened once that he came to a city named Kushta (truth). And the inhabitants of that city would not change their word, and it never happened that one should die an untimely death. He married a woman from there, and she bore him two children. It happened once that his wife was washing her hair and a female neighbor came knocking on the door. He thought that it's not polite [to say that she's washing her hair], and therefore said that she is out. And the two children died. And when the inhabitants came to ask him what was the reason that such an unusual thing happened to him, he told them what happened. They said: Please, move away and don't bring death to these people.
ר"א בנו של רבי יוסי הגלילי אומר אסור לבצוע וכל הבוצע ה"ז חוטא וכל המברך את הבוצע הרי זה מנאץ ועל זה נאמר (תהלים י, ג) בוצע ברך נאץ ה' אלא יקוב הדין את ההר שנאמר (דברים א, יז) כי המשפט לאלהים הוא וכן משה היה אומר יקוב הדין את ההר אבל אהרן אוהב שלום ורודף שלום ומשים שלום בין אדם לחבירו שנאמר (מלאכי ב, ו) תורת אמת היתה בפיהו ועולה לא נמצא בשפתיו בשלום ובמישור הלך אתי ורבים השיב מעון
רבי יהושע בן קרחה אומר מצוה לבצוע שנאמר (זכריה ח, טז) אמת ומשפט שלום שפטו בשעריכם והלא במקום שיש משפט אין שלום ובמקום שיש שלום אין משפט אלא איזהו משפט שיש בו שלום הוי אומר זה ביצוע וכן בדוד הוא אומר (שמואל ב ח, טו) ויהי דוד עושה משפט וצדקה והלא כל מקום שיש משפט אין צדקה וצדקה אין משפט אלא איזהו משפט שיש בו צדקה הוי אומר זה ביצוע
רבי שמעון בן מנסיא אומר שנים שבאו לפניך לדין עד שלא תשמע דבריהן או משתשמע דבריהן ואי אתה יודע להיכן דין נוטה אתה רשאי לומר להן צאו ובצעו משתשמע דבריהן ואתה יודע להיכן הדין נוטה אי אתה רשאי לומר להן צאו ובצעו שנאמר (משלי יז, יד) פוטר מים ראשית מדון ולפני התגלע הריב נטוש קודם שנתגלע הריב אתה יכול לנטשו משנתגלע הריב אי אתה יכול יכול לנטשו
R. Eliezer, the son of R. Jose the Galilean, used to say: It is prohibited to mediate, and he who should do so sins; and he who praises the mediators despises the law, as it is written [Ps. x. 3]: "The robber blesseth himself when he hath despised the Lord." Rather, the strict law shall bore the mountain, as it is written [Deut. i. 17]: "The judgment belongs to God." And so was it said by Moses our master. But Aaron loved peace, ran after it, and used to make peace among the people, as it is written [Mal. ii. 6]: "The law of truth was in his mouth, and falsehood was not found on his lips; in peace and equity he walked with me, and many did he turn away from iniquity."
And R. Jehoshua b. Karha also said: Arbitration is a meritorious act, as it is written [Zech. viii. 16]: "With truth and the judgment of peace, judge ye in your gates." But when there is judgment, there is no peace; and vice versa?! What is judgement that contains peace? This is arbitration. So also was it said about David [II Sam. viii. 16]: "And David did what was just and charitable unto all his people." But where there is justice, there is no charity, and where there is charity, there is no justice?! Rather, what is justice which contains charity? Arbitration.
R. Simeon b. Menasia said: If two persons brought a case before you, before you have heard their claims, and even thereafter, but you are still not aware to whom the strict law inclines, you may say to them: Go and mediate among yourselves. But after you are aware who is right according to the strict law, you must not advise them to mediate, as it is written [Prov. xvii. 14]: "As one letteth loose (a stream) of water, so is the beginning of strife; therefore before it be enkindled, leave off the contest"; which means, before it be enkindled you may advise a mediation, but not after you know with whom the law is.
Geneivat Da'at: The Prohibition Against Deception in Today's World
by Hershey H. Friedman, Professor of Business and Marketing,
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
The literal meaning of geneivat da'at in Hebrew is theft of one's mind, thoughts, wisdom, or knowledge, i.e., fooling someone and thereby causing him or her to have a mistaken assumption, belief, and/or impression. Thus, the term is used in Jewish law to indicate deception, cheating, creating a false impression, and acquiring undeserved goodwill. Geneivat da'at goes beyond lying. Any words or actions that cause others to form incorrect conclusions about one's motives might be a violation of this prohibition. One does not have the right to diminish the ability of another person, Jew or Gentile, to make a fair and honest evaluation, whether in business or interpersonal relations.
... וְאוֹמֵר (שמות כ, טו): וְכָל הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת הַקּוֹלֹת. הַקּוֹל אֵין כְּתִיב כָּאן אֶלָּא הַקּוֹלֹת, אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן הָיָה הַקּוֹל יוֹצֵא וְנֶחְלַק לְשִׁבְעִים קוֹלוֹת לְשִׁבְעִים לָשׁוֹן, כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּשְׁמְעוּ כָּל הָאֻמּוֹת, וְכָל אֻמָּה וְאֻמָּה שׁוֹמַעַת קוֹל בִּלְשׁוֹן הָאֻמָּה ... בּוֹא וּרְאֵה הֵיאַךְ הַקּוֹל יוֹצֵא, אֵצֶל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד לְפִי כֹּחוֹ, הַזְּקֵנִים לְפִי כֹּחָן, הַבַּחוּרִים לְפִי כֹּחָן, וְהַקְּטַנִּים לְפִי כֹּחָן, וְהַיּוֹנְקִים לְפִי כֹּחָן, וְהַנָּשִׁים לְפִי כֹּחָן, וְאַף משֶׁה לְפִי כֹּחוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות יט, יט): משֶׁה יְדַבֵּר וְהָאֱלֹהִים יַעֲנֶנּוּ בְקוֹל, בְּקוֹל שֶׁהָיָה יָכוֹל לְסוֹבְלוֹ. וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר (תהלים כט, ד): קוֹל ה' בַּכֹּחַ, בְּכֹחוֹ לֹא נֶאֱמַר אֶלָּא בַּכֹּחַ, בְּכֹחוֹ שֶׁל כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד, וְאַף נָשִׁים מְעֻבָּרוֹת לְפִי כֹּחָן, הֱוֵי אוֹמֵר כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד לְפִי כֹּחוֹ.
"And all the people perceived the thunderings" (Exod. 20:15). Since there was only one voice, why "thunderings" in the plural? Rabbi Yochanan said: Because God's voice divided into seventy voices, into seventy languages, so that all the nations might hear it...... Come and see how the voice went forth to all of Israel, to each and every one in keeping with his particular capacity--to the elderly in keeping with their capacity, to young men in keeping with their capacity, to the little ones in keeping with their capacity, to the suckling babes in keeping with their capacity, and to the women in keeping with their capacity, and even to Moses according to his capacity, as it is written, "Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice," (Ex. 19:19) - with a voice that he could stand. Thus it says in psalms (Ps. 29:4) "The voice of God in strength," -- "In its strength" is not written, rather, "in strength," in the strength of each and every one, even pregnant women according to their strength, it would speak to each and every one according to his or her strength...
...
Emmanuel Levinas
...It is as if the multiplicity of persons ... were the condition for the plentitude of ‘absolute Truth’; as if every person, through his uniqueness were the guarantee of the revelation of a unique aspect of truth, and some of its points would never have been revealed if some people had been absent from mankind... the totality of the true is constituted from the combination of multiple people: the uniqueness of each act of listening carrying the secret of the text; the voice of Revelation, as inflected, precisely, by each person’s ear, would be necessary to the ‘Whole’ of the Truth...
חַנּ֣וּן וְרַח֣וּם ה' אֶ֥רֶךְ אַ֝פַּ֗יִם וּגְדָל־חָֽסֶד׃ (18) קָר֣וֹב ה' לְכָל־קֹרְאָ֑יו לְכֹ֤ל אֲשֶׁ֖ר יִקְרָאֻ֣הוּ בֶאֱמֶֽת׃
The ETERNAL is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. (18) The ETERNAL is near to all who call Him, to all who call Him in truth.
אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים שאלו רבני צרפת ז״ל היאך אפשר שיהו אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חים וזה איסר וזה מתיר ותרצו כי כשעלה משה למרום לקבל התורה הראו לן על כל דבר ודבר מ״ט פנים לאיסור ומ״ט פני׳ להיתר ושאל להקב״ה על זה ואמר שיהא זה מסור לחכמי ישראל שבכל דור ודור ויהיה הכרעה כמותם ונכון הוא לפי הדרש ובדרך האמת יש טעם סוד בדבר.
Ritva (Rabbi Yom Tov ben Avraham Asevilli (Commentary on Eruvin 13b [How can it be that] Elu v’elu divrei Elohim chaim -- These and These are the words of the Living G-d? The Rabbis of France [i.e. the Tosafists] may their memories be blessed, asked: How can it be that both of them spoke the words of the Living G-d, yet one side said [for example, an object is] forbidden and one said it is permissible? They resolved it by noting that when Moshe went up to the heights to receive the Torah, it was shown to him 49 reasons why something is permissible, and 49 reasons why it is forbidden. He asked the Holy One Blessed Be He about this, and was told that this is left to the sages of Israel in every generation, and the ruling will be as they decide
Talmud Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin 4:2
Similarly Rabbi Yannai, a disciple of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, says, “If the Torah had been given hatucha, cut and dried [i.e. rigid and inflexible] then there would be no leg to stand on [ i.e. there would be no way to apply it to varied situations.] So “when God spoke to Moshe” (Exodus 23:2), means that Moshe asked: Master of the Universe, reveal to me what the halakha is. God responded: ‘Follow the majority rule’ – if there are more who argue to acquit, acquit. If there are more to convict, convict.
Thus the Torah is interpreted with 49 facets for impurity and 49 facets for purity.
Menashe from Ilia,1767-1831
According to Talmud Babli, Sanhedrin 17a,No one may be seated as member of the Sanhedrin until they show that they know how to prove the purity of an impure dead animal (sheretz) in 150 ways. “For no issue is completely evil and there is always a time or situation in which it will be good. Generally they are bad for the world, but there are places that the sheretz can be pure and beneficial." The rejected opinion has its place as true and useful in ad hoc situations as times change.
Ritba, Rav Yom Tov son of Avraham Ibn Asbili explains that Moshe was shown all the arguments, 49 pro and 49 con, but not the decisions which were to be worked out by majority rule in every generation. The pluralism is inherent to the arguments and the unity is the result of the authority of the majority in each generation. The new generation is not subject to the previous generation’s decision for the new generation is itself actualizing a Divine possibility already given. Thus in the heavenly tribunal above they have the same arguments as below, because all the logical possibilities are given at Sinai, not their determination.
We read in psalms 125,2: ירושלים הרים סביב לה וה' סביב לעמו, “Jerusalem is enfolded by hills, and the Lord enfolds it.” The word ירושלים there is a simile for the collective soul of the Jewish people, known also as כנסת ישראל. The words: וה' סביב לעמו, mean that seeing that everything in the universe revolves around the Jewish people, Hashem, naturally, is intimately involved in the fortunes of this people. The הרים, hills, mentioned in that verse refer to the three patriarchs, who personify the roots of holiness in the celestial regions. These patriarchs “surround” the collective soul of the Jewish people. It is therefore incumbent upon every individual Israelite to attach himself to this “root” of holiness. The function of this “root” is to illuminate the path of the “branch,” (the descendants) without any screen being interposed, or intervention by any spiritually negative, sinful forces. Man’s function in this world, vis a vis his fellow man, is to dispense loving kindness; however, the most important aspect of this “doing good,” is that it be based on the spiritual values of the “root,” the patriarchs who have shown us the way.
While it is clear that doing kind deeds is morally positive, the definition of what is a good deed is not up to man, but up to G’d and His Torah. Unfortunately many people, including leaders of the Jewish people, have failed in this regard, performing what they thought were “good” deeds, expressions of pity and mercy, but wasted on unworthy individuals. Our sages on Kohelet Rabbah 7,16 אל תהי צדיק הרבה, ואל תתחכם יותר, “do not be overly righteous, and do not try to be too smart,” have said in explaining this: כל הנעשה רחמן על האכזרים, ”showing mercy to the cruel people,” suggest that what Solomon had in mind was King Sha-ul who, when asked to wipe out Amalek including children and livestock, questioned G’d’s instructions (through the prophet Samuel) by asking what the children had done wrong and how the livestock had sinned. As a result of his misguided sense of when to practice mercy and when to be steadfast, he allowed the king of the Amalekites Agog to survive with historically terrible consequences for the Jewish people, whereas he killed a city of Jewish priests, Nov, merely on suspicion and the accusation by a single prejudiced general. He, personally, paid for it with not only his own life, but the lives of three of his sons. Leading the kind of life the Torah has taught us, requires among other virtues, that one does not allow one’s personal prejudices to influence one’s decisions. When one reaches such a level one is surrounded in all three dimensions by the protective emanations of the patriarchs, first and foremost among their virtues being the virtue of אמת, truth. Making truthfulness, also versus one’s own self, the focus of one’s virtues, enables a person to distance himself from nearly all evil influences.
When the Torah stresses the fact that the month when the Children of Israel entered the desert of Sinai was the “third” month after they had left Egypt, the number “three” symbolizes “truth”, as it does in the letter ש which has three “lines” symbolizing the emanations חסד, גבורה, and תפארת, harmony.
When a person has attained the domain, environment, of אמת, truth, and made it his permanent spiritual abode, he has truly left behind יצא, all aspects of evil, רע, as well as the seducers luring him into committing evil. The Israelites in the desert at this point had finally graduated from their slave-mentality, and all the temptations that are part of the daily lives of slaves. The Torah emphasizes this aspect by repeating: ביום הזה באו, on this day they “had arrived.” The Torah’s choosing to refer to this day as יום הזה, “this day”, rather than יום ההוא, “that day,” proves how completely clear the experiences about to be accumulated by the people were to them. Coming back to the word סיני also being a word describing someone’s perfect memory, (page 413), the arrival in the desert called [afterwards, I presume, Ed.] “Sinai,” was given this name as the Israelites’ memory absorbed all the lessons they were going to learn (revelation, Moses’ ascending the Mountain and returning with the Tablets, etc.) while around that area and around Mount Chorev which dominates that area. Everything experienced by the Israelites during their stay in that area for over eleven months, had to be internalized and to be imprinted on their memory. The vast majority of their experiences in that region were connected to the spoken word, words which had to be committed to memory.
א כִּי הַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ מֵחֲמַת רַחֲמָנוּתוֹ בָּרָא אֶת הָעוֹלָם, כִּי רָצָה לְגַלּוֹת רַחֲמָנוּתוֹ, וְאִם לֹא הָיָה בְּרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם עַל מִי הָיָה מַרְאֶה רַחֲמָנוּתוֹ. וְעַל כֵּן בָּרָא אֶת כָּל הַבְּרִיאָה מִתְּחִלַּת הָאֲצִילוּת, עַד סוֹף נְקֻדַּת הַמֶּרְכָּז שֶׁל עוֹלָם הַגַּשְׁמִי, כְּדֵי לְהַרְאוֹת רַחֲמָנוּתוֹ. וְכַאֲשֶׁר רָצָה הַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ לִבְרֹא אֶת הָעוֹלָם, לֹא הָיָה מָקוֹם לְבָרְאוֹ, מֵחֲמַת שֶׁהָיָה הַכֹּל אֵין סוֹף, עַל־כֵּן צִמְצֵם אֶת הָאוֹר לִצְדָדִין, וְעַל יְדֵי הַצִּמְצוּם הַזֶּה נַעֲשָׂה חָלָל הַפָּנוּי, וּבְתוֹךְ הֶחָלָל הַפָּנוּי הַזֶּה, נִתְהַוּוּ כָּל הַיָּמִים וְהַמִּדּוֹת, שֶׁהֵם בְּרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם (כמ"ש בעץ חיים בתחילתוֹ). וְזֶה הֶחָלָל הַפָּנוּי הָיָה מֻכְרָח לִבְרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם, כִּי בִּלְתִּי הֶחָלָל הַפָּנוּי לֹא הָיָה שׁוּם מָקוֹם לִבְרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם כַּנַּ"ל. וְזֶה הַצִּמְצוּם שֶׁל הֶחָלָל הַפָּנוּי אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהָבִין וּלְהַשִּׂיג כִּי אִם לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא, כִּי צָרִיךְ לוֹמַר בּוֹ שְׁנֵי הֲפָכִים: יֵשׁ וָאַיִן, כִּי הֶחָלָל הַפָּנוּי הוּא עַל־יְדֵי הַצִּמְצוּם, שֶׁכִּבְיָכוֹל צִמְצֵם אֱלֹקוּתוֹ מִשָּׁם, וְאֵין שָׁם אֱלֹקוּת כִּבְיָכוֹל, כִּי אִם לֹא כֵן אֵינוֹ פָּנוּי, וְהַכֹּל אֵין סוֹף, וְאֵין מָקוֹם לִבְרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם כְּלָל. אֲבָל בֶּאֱמֶת לַאֲמִתּוֹ, בְּוַדַּאי אַף־עַל־פִּי־כֵן יֵשׁ שָׁם גַּם כֵּן אֱלֹקוּת, כִּי בְּוַדַּאי אֵין שׁוּם דָּבָר בִּלְעֲדֵי חִיּוּתוֹ, וְעַל־כֵּן אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהַשִּׂיג כְּלָל בְּחִינַת חָלָל הַפָּנוּי עַד לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא:
1. The Holy One, Blessed be He, created the world in His compassion, wanting to express His compassion - were there no world, to whom would He show compassion? Therefore He created all of creation, from the highest levels of emanation to the most central point of the physical world, in order to show his compassion. Yet when He wanted to create the world, there was no space for its creation, since everything was infinite ein sof. He therefore had to retract the light to the sides, and from this retraction an empty void was formed. It was in this empty void that he created time and space, and this was the creation of the world. This empty void was necessary for creation, since without it there would be no space for the world. Yet this [concept of] retraction to form the empty void is impossible to comprehend in our time, only at the end of days, since it entails a paradox of two opposites: presence and absence. Since He retracted His divine nature from the void, it is as if there is no divinity there, otherwise it could not be empty, and it would just be complete ein sof with no room for the world. But the deeper truth is that nonetheless, there certainly is divinity even there, because nothing exists without His vitality. As such, [the concept of] the empty void is incomprehensible until future time.
The Rush Limbaugh Show -- September 28 edition
The fact that The New York Times and The WashingtonPost and USA Today and all these other papers and networks now have fact-checkers is for one reason. It allows them to fool you. The idea that it is a fact-check story is designed to say to you that it is objective and analytically fair... And all it is is a vehicle for them to do opinion journalism under the guise of fairness, which, if you fall for it, gives it even more power.
Ira Glass - This American Life, Episode "Seriously" October 2016
So that's where we are right now. The presentation of facts is seen as partisan opinion, and then every day a barrage of untruths are presented as truth, and we're just supposed to suck it up. That's the moment we live in. That's our country right now. And this is going to continue after this election, no matter who wins. Like, this is the rest of our lives, I think, this post-truth politics. With so many of us getting our news from social media and from sources that we agree with, it's easier than ever to check if a fact is true, and facts matter less than ever.
Fresh Air with Terry Gross
Interview of Dean Baquet, Executive Editor of the New York Times
GROSS: So when Donald Trump says something that is not true, how do you decide if you want to call it a lie or just say it's not true or use a word like baseless?
BAQUET: ...I authorized and pushed us to use lie for the first time in relation to Donald Trump when he finally acknowledged that he thought Barack Obama was born in the United States. I thought there was no other word that would carry that...
GROSS: Can I read that headline?
BAQUET: Sure.
GROSS: The headline was "Donald Trump Clung To Birther Lie For Years, And Still Isn't Apologetic." Is that the headline you're thinking of?
BAQUET: Right, that's the headline I'm thinking about. And the story throughout uses the word lie. A lie implies that it was done with complete, total knowledge that it was a falsehood and that the person pushed it despite all evidence against. And I think what Donald Trump pushed about President Barack Obama not having been born in the United States was a lie. And I think there's no question he knew it was a lie....
To my mind, lie implies intent and longstanding intent, not just intent as of yesterday but intent over a long period of time. And I think Donald Trump pushed the birther lie for a long, long period of time. And to my mind, that makes no question that it was a lie.
... I think that when we believe something is baseless, which is a real word, it's not an opinion. It is a word in the dictionary, and it means without any foundation in truth. I think if that word can be used very clearly and in this case accurately, I think that's journalism. And I think in fact to do the opposite would not be journalism. It would somehow be using language as a guard instead of using language to do what it's supposed to do, which is to tell the truth.
I'm very careful. Lie has not appeared a lot. Lie is a big deal word it has powerful implications, and I will continue to be careful using it. On the other hand, if somebody says something that is known not to be factual, to actually say some people say it's factual and some people say it's not factual is a bad journalistic construct that was created, you know, I don't know how long ago but is actually a relatively new one and has not existed for the life of journalism and probably should go away.
GROSS: When did you become aware of the fake news that's all over the internet now and the impact that it's having?
BAQUET: You know, not early enough, not early enough, to be honest... I guess I thought at the time that it was just sort of part of the traffic of the internet and that - and we could ignore it and that people were ignoring it...
I wish I had paid more attention to it earlier than I did. ... I just thought some of it was so outlandish. I mean, even the - I mean, the most outlandish one that's come into the news in recent days that the Clintons ran a child porn ring out of a pizza shop in Washington, D.C. I guess I thought nobody would believe that. I thought that was so outlandish a claim.
GROSS: Yes, until a man walked in with an assault weapon and started shooting.