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The Photoshopped Bar Mitzva - A Moral Dilemma for the Shabbos Table

By Rabbi Yitzy Weiner

Posted on 01/05/17

Parshas HaShavua Divrei Torah sponsored by
Dr. Shapsy Tajerstein, DPM - Podiatry Care.
(410) 788-6633

In this week’s Torah portion (Bereishis 44,20) we find that Yehuda told a lie. Yehuda told Yosef that Binyamin's brother was killed. Rashi writes that Yehuda did this because he was afraid that Yosef would ask them to bring him.  Rashi later (Bereishis 50, 16) quotes our Sages that it is permitted to lie for the sake of preserving peace. (Click HERE for inspirational stories I have collected about the mitzva to promote peace.)
 
The following true story tests the limit of the permissibility to lie for the sake of peace.
 
Eliezer was a professional photographer. He was hired to take pictures at the Bar Mitzva of the Shapiro family. The parents told Eliezer that it was critically important for them that he takes pictures of the bar mitzva boy dancing with their Rav. Eliezer assured them that he would do that.
 
At the bar mitzva, Eliezer was busy snapping away. He took what he thought was a great shot of the  Bar Mitzva boy dancing with the Rav, just as the Shapiros requested.
 
Later that night Eliezer uploaded the pictures to his laptop. To his great frustration all of the pictures of the bar mitzva boy dancing with the Rav came out extremely blurry. It is possible that the settings on his camera (ISO too low, or aperture too wide) were not set right for those conditions. In either case, the pictures were entirely unusable.

But being proficient at Photoshop it was fairly easy for Eliezer to do a “headswap” and digitally recreate the shot. He was able to put the head of the Rav onto the body of a person dancing with the bar mitzva boy.  After a half hour of work Eliezer was extremely satisfied with his Photoshop work. His new creation looked exactly as if the bar mitzva boy was dancing with the Rav. No one would be able to tell the difference.
 
Eliezer was about to email the gallery of the pictures to the Shapiros when we was struck with pangs of conscience. Was it permitted for him to send them the photoshopped image?
 
On one hand, here was an accurate representation of the bar mitzva boy dancing with the Rav. It looked entirely realistic. The family never asked for a specific pose and this would meet their needs. In addition if the family learned that their requested pictures did not come out, they would be disappointed and very upset for a very long time. If they were never told about it, they would never be upset about it. They would be blissfully unaware. But being told that it was photoshopped would make them feel that they missed out. Perhaps this would be a perfect example of being able to change the truth a bit for the sake of peace.
 
On the other hand, this picture was not an authentic representation of the simcha. He created it on his laptop. Perhaps that would be an example of gneivas daas, of tricking his customers.
 
Did  Eliezer have an obligation to tell the Shapiros that the picture was photoshopped? Was he allowed to give them the pictures without mentioning anything, if that will make them happy? Should he tell them the truth and make them upset? Maybe here was example of "it's better not to know."
 
See Veharev Na Volume Two page 496


Answer to last week’s moral dilemma:
(click here to review the question)


A similar story is discussed in Veharev Na Volume Three 449
Rav Zilberstein answered that it is clear that this action would cause worry to his mother. This may cause her to lose sleep and the anxiety could, affect her health.
It would therefore be wrong to do something that he knows causes pain to his mother