QUESTION: I work in the Bronx and coming back from the school where I work, I got into a car accident. I had a green light and was driving straight. The other driver, a gentile from the Bronx, failed to stop at his red light and drove into the path of my car. At first, the driver admitted that he was at fault and said he would pay for the damage. However, after a few moments, he changed his mind and said that I had been the one who had run the red light. Is there a prohibition for a gentile to lie? If there is, is it appropriate to try to convince the gentile driver to tell the truth, or is it better to just leave it to our respective insurance companies to straighten things out?
ANSWER: Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman ZT”L in his Ayeles HaShachar on Kiddushin 61a cites the idea that a gentile is obligated in matters that make sense from a Saichel perspective (one’s common sense). He explains the Halacha that a gentile may not swear falsely (See Mishna LeMelech on Malachim 10:7) based upon the principle that Saichel would dictate that it is forbidden to lie (all the more so to swear falsely). We also find that Yaakov Avinu, when he first arrived in Charan and saw the shepherds taking care of Lavan’s sheep, he said, “Od Hayom Godol (the day is still large – i.e. there is still much time left in the day)”. He told them that it is not yet time to take the sheep away from grazing. He told them to give the sheep a drink and then take them back to the meadow. We see from here that he was correcting their behavior to ensure that they did their work faithfully and not slack off. One of my Rabbeim, Rav Yisroel Belsky ZT”L used to quote this LeHalacha – that one should correct gentiles in matters of honesty and integrity, even in today’s times. Rav Belsky would do so himself when the opportunity presented itself and would always do so with cheer and good nature.
Of course, Rav Belsky was over six foot four and presumably, you are much shorter than him and likely do not cut the same imposing figure. Therefore, it may not be a good idea to try to coax the gentile driver from the Bronx to tell the truth and admit that he ran the red light.
A good friend of mine has original notes on Chumash from Rav Moshe Feinstein ZT”L that were never published. Contained within the notes, is a section that relates to the topic above regarding influencing a gentile’s behavior. Rav Moshe writes that Yaakov asked Pharoah to live in Goshen, away from the rest of the Egyptians, because his family could be influenced by the Egyptian’s immoral behaviors and damage their spirituality, whereas Yoseph who lived alone among the Egyptians could manage it without being influenced. The implication is that although ordinarily, Yaakov would have wanted to live amongst the Egyptians to influence them positively, in this case, he was rightly concerned for the spiritual peril of his wives and their children. The same concerns that Yaakov had did not apply to Yoseph however, who was living alone in Egypt.
