QUESTION: After a long drive with no restroom in sight, I entered a Dunkin Donuts off the highway to buy a drink and to use the restroom. The bathroom was blocked with a sign that said, “Restroom is Out of Order.” When this sign is on display, it is often not the truth. The restroom is working, but for one reason or another, the management does not want customers to use it (e.g. it hasn’t been cleaned recently). May an employee put out such a sign if his employer asks him to do so? In addition, which is worse – putting out the sign (lying through the written word) or telling the customer (lying through the spoken word) that the restroom is out of order?
ANSWER: Tosfos in Bava Basra 94b writes clearly that the prohibition of lying also exists through the written word. This ruling is also found in the Yad Ramah (Chapter entitled “Get Pashut“) and the Tzitz Eliezer rules this way as well. (Volume 15, Siman 12)
The Maharshah (in Bava Basra 15a) asks how it could be that Moshe Rabbeinu who wrote the Torah could write the words “And Moshe died there...” (Devarim 34:5) – when he had not died yet. This should not be allowed because it is “Mechzei K’Shikra” - it appears to be a lie (but not an actual lie because Moshe was indeed going to die). He concludes that there were two differences that occurred when these words were written in the Torah. The first difference is that with the other words in the Torah, Hashem would tell Moshe what to write, Moshe would repeat the words and then he would write them. These words however, he did not repeat – he heard them from Hashem and then he wrote them. The second difference is that he did not write these words in ink like the other words. Rather he wrote the words with his tears. Writing with tears is not real writing because the writing is not permanent - tears are temporary and get washed away. Therefore, what Moshe did was permitted since he did not speak these words – and therefore never said anything that could have the appearance of a lie; nor did he write something that could have the appearance of a lie, because the words were written in tears. Parenthetically, Moshe wrote these words in tears because he was mourning his inability to continue to serve Hashem after his death.
Regarding whether lying through the written word is worse than lying through speech, there are some Poskim that indeed rule this way (see the Debreciner Rav in Shailos uTeshuvos Be’er Moshe from the Ksav Yad Vol. IV (published in 2021) who quotes the Chedvas Yaakov and the Bais Efraim who rule this way). This is because lying with the written word involves a tangible “action” – taking pen to paper and writing a lie, while lying through speech is ephemeral and intangible.
Accordingly, an employee may not put out a sign that the restroom is out of order if that is not true and some Poskim (Halachic authorities) believe that it is worse than telling a customer that the restroom is out of order if that is not the truth.
In addition, there may be another element at play here. It is generally understood that people agree to pay higher prices for gas, refreshments, etc. at rest stops off the highway, for the conveniences that the rest stops offer. This typically includes the use of a restroom. If that convenience is withheld by an untruthful claim, people may have paid the higher prices under false pretenses and the rest stop may be guilty of Gezailah (theft).
