i ½¦a ̈` c ́¥a Ÿ ` Æi ¦O ©x£` :(wv uwwf)
Æi ¦O ©x£`: means someone who is a liar and deceives other people, as Lavan was known as i−¦O ©x£`« ̈d o¬ ̈a ̈l who tells lies. Dovid Hamelech says in Tehilim 101 c¤b ́¤p §l oFÀM¦Œi ` «Ÿl mi®¦x ̈w §W x¬¥aŸC :i« ̈pi¥r that a liar should not be in my eyesight. The Talmud Sota 42a Four classes of people will not greet the Divine Presence: the class of liars etc. This is what the Posuk is telling us: Arami: one who says lies, i ½¦a ̈` c ́¥aŸ` loses the the Divine Presence.
Yet a person can reason that in many circumstances if he will say the truth he will be embarrassed or punished and therefore tells a lie to rectify his actions. The Steipler Gaon from Bnei Brak, told the following story which happened with him: When he was a young boy he was drafted into the Russian army. The Steipler was very strict at sleeping in a Sukka, and when drafted into the army they granted his request to allow him to sleep in a Sukka. The nights in Russia were bitter cold, yet the Steipler who did this Mitzvah with Simcha did not feel the cold weather. One Sukkos, he was put on duty to guard the hospital and he was happy as being a guard it would be an easy task to sleep in a sukka. His job was to lookout for any suspicious activity from the enemy, and at the first sight of trouble he would have to shoot a bullet from his gun and that will have the other soldiers on alert. Once the Steipler was very tired and dozed off on duty and by mistake his gun went off and a commotion began with soldiers getting ready for combat, waiting for the enemy. Time passed and the soldiers didn’t see anything happening, they went back to their positions. Meanwhile, the Commander came to the Steipler for a clarification of what had happened. The Steipler was approached and thought to him: I can say that I saw something suspicious and thought it was the enemy and that would be a good reason for the shooting and he would be dismissed from any wrongdoing. On the other hand, if he tells the truth, he would be punished by death. The Steipler thought to himself: The first option of telling a lie, is out of the question! Yet to the option of telling the truth, he was confident that Hashem will help him in the merit of telling the truth and the merit of Sukka. The Steipler told the Commander the Truth. They immediately handcuffed him and threw him in jail with the biggest criminals. The judge handed out the sentence: death by hanging. When the Steipler was told of the verdict, he strengthened his faith in Hashem and was confident that Hashem will help. A few days later the Czar celebrated his birthday his birthday he would pardon criminals who found favor in eyes. The Czar entered the prison where the Steipler was, and looked over the inmates and pardoned the Steipler. The great Gaon didn’t lose out by saying the truth.
