When I listen to the radio in my car first thing in the morning as I drive to minyan, the radio personalities tell the audience what each day is dedicated to like National Groundhog Day (btw it was last Friday February 2nd), National Secretary Day, or National Pickle Day. Did you know that there is a National Honesty Day in the United States? It is a little-known designation for April 30, but an important one nonetheless.
Author
M. Hirsh Goldberg established National Honesty Day in the early 1990s as a way
to honor the honorable and encourage honesty. He said that April 30 was
selected because “April begins with a day dedicated to lying [April Fool’s Day]
and should end on a higher moral note.”
He hoped that Honesty Day would be a good time to review the value of this trait. Honesty is not as easy as it seems—but we sanctify God’s name by striving for it.
An understanding of honesty begins with recognizing that God—our ultimate example—is truth (Deut. 32:4) and that He won’t lie (Num. 23:19). Also, He hates falsehood (Prov. 6:16-19). In fact the Rabbis teach that God’s seal is “truth or emet in Hebrew.”
For our part, we can use our Torah portion as our guide: In Mishpatim we are commanded to “Keep far away from a lying word“ (Exodus 23:7) “The Talmud (Sanhedrin 92a) expresses the severity of lying by equating it with idolatry. The Sages (Sotah 42a) lists liars among those who will not behold the Divine Presence in the world to come, as it is written, “He that spreads falsehood shall not be established before My eyes” (Psalms 101:7)” (Love Your Neighbor by Zelig Plishkin, page 201)
Despite the fact that Honesty Day is almost 3 months away, let’s make every day Honesty Day.
Shabbat Shalom,
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