Lying Through His Teeth?

I'm taking this cue from BTA.

ת"ש רבי יוחנן חש בצפדינא אזל לגבה דההיא מטרוניתא עבדה חמשא ומעלי שבתא א"ל למחר מאי אמרה ליה לא צריכת אי צריכנא מאי אמרה אשתבע לי דלא מגלית אישתבע לה לאלהא ישראל לא מגלינא גלייה ליה למחר נפק דרשה בפירקא והא
אישתבע לה לאלהא דישראל לא מגלינא אבל לעמיה ישראל מגלינא והאיכא חילול השם דגלי לה מעיקרא

Talmud, Avodah Zara 28a:

"Rabbi Yochanan suffered from tzafdina [a dangerous disease of the gums or teeth] and went to a certain heathen lady who made a remedy for him to use on Thursday and Friday. He said to her: "What should I do tomorrow [the Sabbath]"? She replied: "You will not need the treatment." Rabbi Yochanan said: "But what if I do need it?" She replied: "Swear to me that you will not reveal the remedy to anyone." Rabbi Yochanan swore to her: "To the God of Israel I will not reveal it." She then disclosed the remedy to him and the next day he taught it in his public lecture.The Talmud asks: But did he not swear to her not to reveal it? The Talmud answers: He swore that he would not reveal it to the God of Israel, but to His people, Israel, he would reveal it. The Talmud asks: But is this not a profanation of the name of God? [when a Jew commits a misdeed, especially something as serious as swearing falsely, it causes people to denigrate Judaism and the Torah]. The Talmud answers: That from the beginning he revealed to her that his oath was not binding [and that he wanted to help the public]."

The overall question of the Gemara is whether or not and under what circumstances is one permitted to take healings or medicines on Shabbos. The Talmud makes distinctions between internal, external, and potentially mortal wounds. On the way to answering this question, we run across some really troubling ethical problems concerning goyim, truth telling, and theft.

Re: "The Talmud asks: But did he not swear to her not to reveal it? The Talmud answers: He swore that he would not reveal it to the God of Israel…..”

Funny that. I remember the first time I breezed through this wondering how could be possible that an old shikza would know more about medicine than HaShem. I am also wondering why Rabi Yochanan would even go to a shikza for treatment, unless there were no Jews studying medicine in those days.

The healer felt that she had a valid proprietary claim on this remedy, and kept it safekeep to ensure her steady income. This is not unlike any other artisan of the day who sought to protect his or her trade from being undercut by too much competition. Never give away your trade secrets for free. Rabi Yochanan did not only LIE to her (outright chilul hashem), but doubly violated her trust by publicizing the formula. He ended up stealing much of the potential income she would derive from offering her services in the future.

The answer of course is that Rabi Yochanan could swear not to reveal it to HaShem because HaShem already knew of it. So the oath was, at least to Rabi Yochanan, an innocuous formality designed to weasel what he needed from the old woman. The Gemara doesn’t even call it G’neyvas da’as or Gezel (which it most obviously is) because lying to goyim or stealing from them is not ossur (except for “when a Jew commits a misdeed, especially something as serious as swearing falsely, it causes people to denigrate Judaism and the Torah”.) It is permitted to swear falsely to and cheat from goyim, getting caught is the problem. It never occurs to Rabi Yochanan that lying in and of itself might be problematic, which is typical of ‘ends justify the means’ mentality.

(The only question raised is whether or not using HaShem's name in an obviously false oath is justified under those circumstances.)

Re: “That from the beginning he revealed to her that his oath was not binding”

Let me get this straight now. A moment ago the Gemara told us that the woman and Rabi Yochanan agreed to this deal solely on the condition that he swears not to reveal to anyone how it is made. Now the Gemara backpedals saying that Rabi Yochanan told her from the beginning that his oath wasn’t binding which, when translated into plain English means “Listen Lady! I am not to be trusted!” Now if this were true, then why would she then reveal this remedy to him or treat him at all? It doesn’t make any sense.

This woman could certainly have treated Rabi Yochanan without revealing the formula for the remedy. I happen to know what aspirin contains, but even without that knowledge the aspirin works just as effectively. Why did Rabi Yochanan insist upon knowing the ingredients? The answer might have to do with Kashrus. Really? I didn’t think that Kashrus was important when it came to refuah, because medicine isn’t considered a ma’achal (food.) So why did Rabi Yochanan need to know what was in it? Was he afraid perhaps of being poisoned? Why would he think that? I would think this woman would not poison her clients deliberately since that would really hurt her business. It is ironic that Rabi Yochanan, intent upon deceiving this gentile woman, would himself be suspicious of her actions or intents regarding him. It is typical of a criminal to suspect criminal intent because they project their own thoughts and motives onto the actions of others.

The Talmud doesn't actually tell us this healer was a shikza. It uses the word " matronisa", which means Matron, and could mean any woman of skill or means. It is possible that this woman was a Jew, perhaps even a non-religious one. If the woman were religious, then the entire story makes even less sense than it did when we assumed her to be a gentile, although at this point I woundn't put it past Rabi Yochanan to run some line on her either. I checked about a dozen places in Shass where the word "matronisa" is used and in some cases it is a gentile and others it might not be. Some instances have qualifiers, some do not.

Lastly, if Rabi Yochanan intended to share this medicine with the community, as it seemed to him to be an epidemic of sorts, then why didn’t he offer to buy the formula from her fairly and honestly? Why the deception? Certainly, if there was a communal need for such a cure, the kehilla would have gladly paid her for the knowledge. Or maybe not? Maybe she just wasn’t selling which, last I checked, was her right to do, and still doesn't justify his lying to her.

The conclusion I draw is that Rabi Yochanan, bleeding gums and all, had set out from the beginning to defraud this woman of her knowledge and proprietary claim to the product, by creating a subterfuge for seeing the remedy produced.

This little spin that the Gemara puts on Rabi Yochanan's ruse reminds me of modern day lawyers and politicians who 'parse' their words so carefully that actual definitions and meanings become essentially useless. They can say what they wish and then 'shuck and jive' around it to later have it mean something entirely different. I don't know about anyone else, but where I'm from, an honest person is something to be emulated and admired. Rabi Yochanan isn't one of those.

Remember to floss regularly! It might just keep you from falsehoods.

Once again, I have been caught thinking for myself. When will I ever learn?