Apparently, someone was travelling home on an Erev Shabbos from Chicago to New York. He knew that he should not be travelling on Erev Shabbos, but he said to himself that it is only an hour and a half flight to New York and that he should arrive in plenty of time before the start of Shabbos. However, the plane was delayed for 40 minutes. And then further delayed for another hour. Finally, the captain announced that the President of the United States is planning on landing in New York so the delays will continue. The man regretted his decision to have travelled on an Erev Shabbos.
The man asks to be let off the plane, but his request is denied. As the delays continue, he now realizes that he will be landing in New York after the start of Shabbos. To be let off the plane, he comes up with a plan. He grabs his chest and groans. The flight attendant comes over and asks him what is wrong. He states that there is tightness all over his chest. The flight attendant asks if there is a doctor on the plane. A passenger raises her hand and after checking on the man, says that the man was having a heart attack. The flight attendant lets the doctor wheel the man out of the plane in a wheelchair. When they are back in the airport and reach an open area, the man gets out of the wheelchair and says, “I feel great!” He then, presumably, went back to his Chicago lodgings. (Parenthetically, it seems that the doctor who wheeled him off the plane was also in an observant Jew.) I am not sure if the story is actually true, but if it is, was the man allowed to fake his heart attack to be let off the plane on Erev Shabbos?
ANSWER: It is an interesting question.
First and foremost, one should do one’s best to avoid all falsehood even if it is for the sake of a Mitzvah or to avoid a prohibition. One should try and figure out a way to avoid lying even in situations where it is permitted, because a person might become accustomed to lying and could end up lying when it is not permitted.
However, in a case where one cannot say the truth at all, such as this case - it would technically be permitted to deviate from the truth when it is done completely for the sake of Heaven, to avoid a transgression. As Rav Elyashiv ZT”L cited in Ashrei HaIsh (Vol. I p. 195) writes, one is permitted to lie in order to avoid a prohibition. This is also the ruling in Shulchan Gavoah, Orach Chaim 565:10 and the Kaf HaChaim 565:36.
However, there is one caveat. If there is a possibility of Chillul Hashem (desecration of Hashem’s name), which in this case there is should someone discover the ruse, then clearly one should not lie.
The preferred method to deal with this situation, is to explain to the flight attendant that according to Jewish law, if he is not let off the plane, he would be obligated to stay in the airport for the entire Shabbos upon his arrival in New York (because of Techum Shabbos). He can try to underscore the seriousness of the matter by explaining that he will not be able to leave the airport under any circumstances unless his life is in danger. If the flight attendant is still not persuaded, then there is nothing further he should do - he will need to stay in the airport the entire Shabbos when he lands in New York.
Hopefully, this story is not true, and it goes without saying that one should not travel on Erev Shabbos unless one is certain that he will arrive before Shabbos with a number of hours to spare.
