Yisroel, an older man, put up a huge “for sale” sign for his apartment. People came to see his house, and Yisroel would warmly talk with every single visitor as he showed them around his little home. When the price came up, he said he’s asking for five million dollars. Of course, no one ever bought the apartment. The price was way too much for such a small house; it made no sense.
One day, Shaya knocked on Yisroel’s door, schmoozed with him for a bit, and finally asked, “Why don’t you just lower the price? Nobody will buy it for that amount!”
Yisroel started to cry and said, “I’ll tell you the truth, I’m getting older and never had any children. No one comes to visit me. I’m very lonely, and the pain of feeling alone is terrible. So I came up with an idea: I will put my home up for sale, and at least once a week, someone will come to see my house. Guess what? My idea worked! I get to schmooze with people at least once a week, and this takes away my loneliness. The price is so high because I don’t plan to sell my home.”
Shaya felt bad for the older man and told him, “I am sorry that you felt so alone.” Shaya then said it might be a good idea to ask a halacha question, because this plan could be misleading and tricking people without meaning to.
Yisroel was surprised. He had never thought it was a problem since he didn’t actually steal from anyone, but said he would ask right away.
Who To Ask?
Taste The Sweetness
Feel The Sweetness
I'm Very Lonely!
- Yisroel is allowed to trick people into visiting him to help and take away his pain of loneliness.
- It's not considered tricking or fooling people because he didn’t have in mind to cheat anyone; he only wanted to get people to visit him to take away his pain of loneliness.
- The Magen Avraham (132) writes that a person who isn’t feeling well or is sick may trick people to save himself. Our case is the same thing. Yisroel may trick others to save himself.
- The Gemara (Shabbos 128a) says that one is never allowed to trick anyone, except in one case: when one is not feeling well.
The Gemara's case is like that of a person who did bloodletting, a treatment used long ago to help someone feel better, and he needed to drink wine to gain back his strength. But this person had no money; he had only a few old, damaged coins that were useless. He's allowed to go to a few stores, ask if he can try a sip of wine, and after tasting, he takes out his few old coins. The store owners will see he has old coins, they’ll say that he cannot buy anything with this damaged money, and they will say they won’t sell him anything. If he does this to taste in a few stores, he will regain his strength. He is allowed to use this trick of tasting in different stores to regain his strength and health.
