honesty Archives - Values & Ethics—Through a Jewish Lens

DEALING WITH DISHONESTY…

Posted by TTT | Dec 4, 2019 | communication, honesty |

VA-YETZE — There are times when we all deny the truth, especially when accused. When Adam was accused of eating the apple by God, he blamed it on Eve, and she blamed it on the snake. It’s difficult to confront people directly with the truth when we know they are lying. It can be easier to go along with whatever dishonesty another person is perpetuating rather than confront him or her. We can take a lesson from our patriarch Jacob in this week’s Torah portion, Vayetze. Laban, his father-in-law, tricked Jacob by giving him Leah first as a wife, when...

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF DECEIT…

Posted by TTT | Nov 29, 2019 | honesty, self care |

TOLDOT — Nothing gets you attention at summer camp like pulling a good prank. The pranks start out small: first the boys bunk toilet papers the girls’ cabin. The girls retaliate by short-sheeting the boys’ beds. The boys hit back by putting the girls’ luggage in the dumpster and soon the boys find their own sleeping bags filled with shaving cream. Before you know it, a full-blown prank war spirals out of control between all the boys and girls in the eldest division. No one is safe from the practical jokes – or from punishment from the Camp Director....

BEING ABSOLUTELY HONEST…

Posted by TTT | Nov 15, 2019 | communication, courage, honesty |

VA-YERA — We, as parents, tell our children never to lie. However, as adults we most probably tell white lies fairly often. “How do I look in this dress?” a wife asks her husband as they walk into a party. Is that the moment the husband should tell the absolute truth and say– “darling, I hate to tell you, but that dress makes you look fat”? Or should the husband say, “Beautiful– that color brings out your eyes”. Ethically, are there ever times to lie? Yes. When the truth will hurt someone’s feelings for no good reason. When a...

DEVELOPING THE ABILITY TO LISTEN…

Posted by TTT | Oct 10, 2019 | communication, honesty, problem solving |

HA-AZINU — We all want our children to listen. There are several kinds of listening that we expect from our children: obedience to what we tell them to do, paying attention generally to what we say, and taking in our criticism. But often children choose not to or can’t listen to what we tell them. All of these different kinds of listening can be difficult for children, whether they simply want to do what they want to do, or because their attention is elsewhere, or finally because it’s hard to hear criticism. Our Torah portion begins with the injunction...

SELF-DECEPTION…

Posted by TTT | Oct 10, 2019 | honesty, humility, problem solving, responsibility |

HA-AZINU — Every so often we get caught, or catch ourselves, doing something wrong. Very often we come up with creative justifications for what we did. The person I snapped at was rude to me first. Or I stole a video because the store makes too much money anyway. In this week’s Torah portion, Moses reminds us that when we do things that are wrong, we must focus on the imperfection in ourselves and not use twisted logic to find another source of blame. Actually, modern psychological studies show that all people think they are basically good, regardless of...

Category: honesty

DEALING WITH DISHONESTY…

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF DECEIT…

BEING ABSOLUTELY HONEST…

DEVELOPING THE ABILITY TO LISTEN…

SELF-DECEPTION…

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