JTF.ORG Forum
Torah and Jewish Idea => Torah and Jewish Idea => Topic started by: Israel Chai on May 28, 2014, 04:05:07 PM
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http://www.divineinformation.com/common-questions-series-6-2/
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I agree when it comes to Torah truth there is no 'Political Correctness' because to do so would be to distort the truth of the Torah.
But I disagree when it comes to issues of inter-personal relations. Sometimes tact is required to avoid a confrontation. Sometimes it is better to avoid little battles which do not contribute to the over-all war. The entire idea of 'politics' is to find consensus and avoid conflict. While I despise politically correct speech in general, I do think there are occasions when saying your girlfriend looks good even if she doesn't look so good (you know what I am saying?)...
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For example, a disagreement between the famous sages Hillel and Shammai involved this issue:
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/hillel_and_shammai/
The schools of Hillel and Shammai are famous for their disputes in Jewish law. One of these concerned whether one should tell a bride on her wedding day that she is beautiful even if this is not true. The school of Shammai held that in this situation it would be wrong to lie. The school of Hillel held that a bride is always beautiful on her wedding day. (Talmud, Ketubot 16b-17a) The school of Hillel won the dispute. Indeed, Jewish law today almost always agrees with the school of Hillel. The Talmud (Eruvin 13b) explains why:
A heavenly voice declared: “The words of both schools are the words of the living God, but the law follows the rulings of the school of Hillel.”
So why does the law follow the rulings of the school of Hillel? The Talmud explains that the disciples of Hillel were gentle and modest, and studied both their own opinions and the opinions of the other school, and humbly mentioned the words of the other school before their own.