Should Moral Individuals Ever Lie?

A Selection From My Favorite Jewish Sources
By Rabbi Mordechai Levin

 
Torah, Exodus 20:16
You shall not bear false witness

Torah, Leviticus 19:11
You shall not steal, you shall not deny falsely, and you shall not lie one to another.

Torah, Exodus 23:7
Distance yourself from a false matter. 

Mishnah, Avot 1:18
The world endures on three things: justice, truth, and peace.

Talmud, Pesachim 113b
God hates one who speaks one thing with his mouth and another thing in his heart.

Talmud, Sanhedrin 92a
Whoever breaks his word is regarded as though he has worshiped idols

Talmud, Sotah 42a
Liars will not receive the Divine Presence.

Talmud, Sukkah 46b
One should not promise to give a child something and then not give it to him, because the child will learn to lie.

Talmud, Sanhedrin 89b
A liar’s punishment is that even when he tells the truth, he is not believed.

Talmud, Yebamoth 65b
Rabbi Ille’a said in the name of Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon: It is permitted for a person to deviate from the truth in the interest of peace, as it says (Genesis 50:16-17): “Your father [Jacob] commanded before his death, saying: So shall you say to Joseph, ‘O Please forgive the offense of your brothers and their sin for they have treated you so wickedly.’”

At the Academy of Rabbi Yishmael it was taught: Great is the cause of peace, seeing that for its sake, even the Holy One, blessed be He, changed the truth, for at first it is written (Genesis 18:12), ‘My lord [husband Abraham] is old, while afterward it is written (18:13), “And I am old.”

Talmud, Ketubot 16b-17a
The Rabbis taught: How does one dance before the bride [what does one say in praise of her]?

The School of Shammai says: We praise the bride as she is. The School of Hillel says: We say that she is a beautiful and graceful bride.

The School of Shammai said to the School of Hillel: If she was lame or blind, does one say about her that she is a beautiful and graceful bride? But the Torah said (Exodus 23:7): “Distance yourself from a false matter.”

The School of Hillel said to the School of Shammai: According to your opinion, if someone made an inferior purchase in the marketplace, should one praise it or deprecate it in his eyes. Surely, one should praise it.

From here [the latter statement of the Hillel School] the Sages said: A person’s disposition should always be pleasant with people.
 

Shabbat Shalom!