שו"ת אגרות משה חושן משפט חלק ב סימן ל
באיסור גניבת תשובות לשאלות מבחני הסיום שעושה המדינה.
תמוז תש"מ. לכבוד מר צבי הירש לפרק.
הנה בדבר שאלתו על מה ששמע שבישיבות מתירין להתלמידים לגנוב את התשובות להשאלות במבחני הסיום שעושה המדינה (רידזענס) כדי להונות ולקבל את התעודות שגמרו בטוב, הנה דבר זה אסור לא רק מדינא דמלכותא אלא מדין התורה, ואין זה רק גניבת דעת שג"כ אסור כדאמר שמואל בחולין דף צ"ד ע"א שאסור לגנוב דעת הבריות ואפילו דעתו של עכו"ם וכ"ש הכא שהוא גניבת דעת לכולי עלמא אף לישראל, אלא דהוא גם גניבת דבר ממש דהא כשירצה לפרנסתו במשך הזמן להשכיר עצמו אצל אחד לעבוד בעסקיו ורוצים ברוב הפעמים במי שגמר היטב למודיו דחול והוא יראה לו התעודה איך שגמר בטוב ועל סמך זה קבלוהו שזהו גניבת ממון ממש, ואין לו לטעות /לטעון/ ולומר שאף אם קבלוהו לעבוד אצלו אדעתא דהכי הוא כמקפיד על דבר שאינו צריך שרשאי לשקר, חדא דאף אם הוא אמת שאין להקפיד הוא ודאי קפידא ובטלה קבלתו, וגם שאסור לשקר בכל אופן אף שאינו נוגע לשום דבר דאינו מהתלת מילי דרשאי לשנות (בב"מ דף כ"ג ע"ב) וגם אם ידע שהוא משקר לא היה סומך עליו בכלום ויגרום שיחשוד לאחר כשיחסר איזה דבר דאותו לא יחשוד מחמת שלמד בישיבה ומחזיק לת"ח ואיש נאמן ויסלק להאחר ממשרתו אף שהאמת שהאחר לא לקח, ואם היה יודע שזה שלמד בישיבה שיקר לו לא היה בטוח לסלק את האחר. ועוד דכאן שמקפידין אינשי ודאי שייך להקפיד דיש ודאי דברים דמי שהוא בקי בלמודי חול הוא יותר יודע בעניני עסקי פרנסה ממשא ומתן וממילא ודאי אסור אף למחשבתו שירויח עי"ז בלמוד התורה, שגם בשביל למוד התורה אסור לגנוב. ואם חשקה נפשו בתורה אין לו לדאוג שמא לא ידע כל כך ולא יהיה לו סימן טוב עלייהו, אבל האמת שאין בזה ענין בטול תורה דמאחר שהולך ללמוד למודי חול הוא רק עצלות בעלמא כשלומד באופן שלא לידע כי הזמן הוא עכ"פ מבטל ואדרבה מתרגל שלא לידע מה שלומד ומתרגל לעצלות.
אבל ברור שעצם הדבר ששמע מע"כ הוא שקר משונאי הישיבות ומאלו שרוצים להחריב הישיבות ולהעליל עלילות ברשע כי אדרבה ידוע שבני הישיבה הם מאלו שאף בלמודי חול עדיפי מתלמידים שלומדים בבתי ספר שלהם ואל יחוש להשמועות של שקר אף שהיה נכתב זה בעתון מפורסם לשונא תורה ויראי ה' ויכול מע"כ לומר בפה מלא שהוא שקר וכזב משונאי תורה ודת ישראל.
והנני ידידו מברכו שיתגדלו בניו לתורה וליראת שמים, משה פיינשטיין
באיסור גניבת תשובות לשאלות מבחני הסיום שעושה המדינה.
תמוז תש"מ. לכבוד מר צבי הירש לפרק.
הנה בדבר שאלתו על מה ששמע שבישיבות מתירין להתלמידים לגנוב את התשובות להשאלות במבחני הסיום שעושה המדינה (רידזענס) כדי להונות ולקבל את התעודות שגמרו בטוב, הנה דבר זה אסור לא רק מדינא דמלכותא אלא מדין התורה, ואין זה רק גניבת דעת שג"כ אסור כדאמר שמואל בחולין דף צ"ד ע"א שאסור לגנוב דעת הבריות ואפילו דעתו של עכו"ם וכ"ש הכא שהוא גניבת דעת לכולי עלמא אף לישראל, אלא דהוא גם גניבת דבר ממש דהא כשירצה לפרנסתו במשך הזמן להשכיר עצמו אצל אחד לעבוד בעסקיו ורוצים ברוב הפעמים במי שגמר היטב למודיו דחול והוא יראה לו התעודה איך שגמר בטוב ועל סמך זה קבלוהו שזהו גניבת ממון ממש, ואין לו לטעות /לטעון/ ולומר שאף אם קבלוהו לעבוד אצלו אדעתא דהכי הוא כמקפיד על דבר שאינו צריך שרשאי לשקר, חדא דאף אם הוא אמת שאין להקפיד הוא ודאי קפידא ובטלה קבלתו, וגם שאסור לשקר בכל אופן אף שאינו נוגע לשום דבר דאינו מהתלת מילי דרשאי לשנות (בב"מ דף כ"ג ע"ב) וגם אם ידע שהוא משקר לא היה סומך עליו בכלום ויגרום שיחשוד לאחר כשיחסר איזה דבר דאותו לא יחשוד מחמת שלמד בישיבה ומחזיק לת"ח ואיש נאמן ויסלק להאחר ממשרתו אף שהאמת שהאחר לא לקח, ואם היה יודע שזה שלמד בישיבה שיקר לו לא היה בטוח לסלק את האחר. ועוד דכאן שמקפידין אינשי ודאי שייך להקפיד דיש ודאי דברים דמי שהוא בקי בלמודי חול הוא יותר יודע בעניני עסקי פרנסה ממשא ומתן וממילא ודאי אסור אף למחשבתו שירויח עי"ז בלמוד התורה, שגם בשביל למוד התורה אסור לגנוב. ואם חשקה נפשו בתורה אין לו לדאוג שמא לא ידע כל כך ולא יהיה לו סימן טוב עלייהו, אבל האמת שאין בזה ענין בטול תורה דמאחר שהולך ללמוד למודי חול הוא רק עצלות בעלמא כשלומד באופן שלא לידע כי הזמן הוא עכ"פ מבטל ואדרבה מתרגל שלא לידע מה שלומד ומתרגל לעצלות.
אבל ברור שעצם הדבר ששמע מע"כ הוא שקר משונאי הישיבות ומאלו שרוצים להחריב הישיבות ולהעליל עלילות ברשע כי אדרבה ידוע שבני הישיבה הם מאלו שאף בלמודי חול עדיפי מתלמידים שלומדים בבתי ספר שלהם ואל יחוש להשמועות של שקר אף שהיה נכתב זה בעתון מפורסם לשונא תורה ויראי ה' ויכול מע"כ לומר בפה מלא שהוא שקר וכזב משונאי תורה ודת ישראל.
והנני ידידו מברכו שיתגדלו בניו לתורה וליראת שמים, משה פיינשטיין
Rabbi Belsky's "Living With Honesty" Question 79
WHEN OTHER STUDENTS USE A STOLEN TEST
I’m a university student, and I’ve been in several classes where the test marks are curved. The teacher gives the student with the highest score the number of extra points he needs in order to have a total score of 100. Afterwards, the same number of points are added to every other person’s score. For example, if the highest score is 90, each person gets 10 points added to his score. In one class, the vast majority (about 80%) of the students had advance copies of the test. I was offered the answers, but of course, I refused. Now, I am at a disadvantage compared to the other students. Do I have any recourse? Should I do more to protest to my fellow students? Is it advisable to tell the professor? What can I do?
RABBI BELSKY
This is difficult to answer. This type of question manifests itself in many ways.
If everyone knows the answers and you don’t, there is a chance that you will look very bad. Still, a person shouldn’t use stolen tests. On the other hand, you can’t run and tell the professor, since that will ruin a lot of people, and I’m not sure if you should be the one to do it. It should be done, but not by you.
At the same time, protesting to your fellow students when you are offered the answers ahead of time will not help much. They’ll just laugh at you, and still use the answers. They may be desperate, since they want an opportunity to pass the course.
There are thousands of reasons they might come up with to justify what they’re doing. “It’s pikuach nefesh” (a life or death matter). Or: “It will spoil the shidduch (potential marriage) if I don’t,” and so on.
This is one of the situations where being totally honest places one in a difficult position. I think that a person in such a situation should study exceptionally well, even if it’s difficult to avoid getting some wrong answers on the test. If every other person will have all the answers, and they all amazingly score 100, probably the teacher will see there’s something fishy going on and examine the matter. The teacher will come to his or her own conclusions, without your getting involved. But the choices for you are very difficult. There’s almost no viable choice here that can fix the situation for you perfectly.
Let me clarify something. Studying for tests is important. But nobody has to totally devote days and nights for one test. It is better to be a 90 student instead of a 100 student. You can’t ruin your health and your sleep by studying day and night.
However, in this particular case, I think you should exert yourself even more, so that instead of getting a 91 or 92, you might get a grade even higher than that. This way, the teacher will be sensitive to the fact that you got an honestly high mark. Why? Because even if you’re at the bottom of the curve, you still did well enough to show that you are a serious student, even if you did not get a perfect score like the others who had the answers in advance.
QUESTIONER
So you could end up suffering by being honest in this case. Should your attitude be that since everything comes from Hashem, this is only a test, and I have no choice but to be honest? Should I be thinking that however the chips fall, everything is in Hashem’s Hand?
RABBI BELSKY
To take the test and put down stolen answers is a very dishonest thing. The fact that so many people do it is really very little consolation.
I was once told that in a very well known college, one of the deans announced that some people gave out the answers to a midterm to some students, and he described some of them as “boys in skullcaps.” It’s a very big chillul Hashem (desecration of Hashem). The amount of cheating that goes on today is just mind-boggling. A person shouldn’t be able, or willing, to write stolen answers on a test. You should study a lot so that you get a good – and honest – mark.
The only thing is, with a curve system, you’ll be punished unfairly because you’ll end up many points behind the others. Still, you can’t do something dishonest. Hopefully the truth will come out sooner or later. The teacher, if he has any brains to understand what’s going on, might notice the highly improbable marks. Then again, he may not. It’s interesting how some teachers might be extremely learned and skilled at teaching complicated subjects, yet when it comes to simple matters such as human issues, they have no clue about what is going on!
Being honest in this situation is just something that you have to do. I understand it’s very difficult. It’s something that at first glance may seem to be foolish, or even extreme, but it still is the right thing to do. I believe that a person who is fully honest will come out on top. It may not surface during this course. The teacher may not detect the cheating, and being honest may pose a problem at this time. But in the long run, the honest person will come out on top.
The others who stole the test this one time will probably be foolhardy enough to expect that they’ll be able to do it another time. They might stop studying and end up doing much worse than you. Honestly studying and preparing, without taking any detours, is the correct thing to do. That person ultimately will come out on top with a superior academic record and reputation. Even more, his moral reputation will be unsullied. There may be a momentary loss in the short term, but the gain is much more far reaching in the long term.
Again, I’m just looking at it from the aspect of loss and gain – an aspect that must be explained to people. It’s difficult to just tell people that it’s worth sacrificing one’s grades and academic standing for honesty, because “it’s the right thing to do.”
Yet, I think that this is the attitude one should have. There’s the likelihood that this will be an isolated incident, and that a lower mark on this test won’t be that damaging. This makes it somewhat easier for a person to choose the ‘honesty’ option in this situation.
However, I am absolutely certain about one thing. It always happens that a fully honest, hard-working student ends up on top. The others somehow get deeper and deeper into schemes, and actually end up digging a very deep hole for themselves, which can be very hard for them to get out of. Ultimately, cheating can be like a drug. A person who does it once, will begin to enjoy it. Even when he tries to stop, he can’t. Eventually, he can’t exist without it. Eventually, he will pay the price.
WHEN OTHER STUDENTS USE A STOLEN TEST
I’m a university student, and I’ve been in several classes where the test marks are curved. The teacher gives the student with the highest score the number of extra points he needs in order to have a total score of 100. Afterwards, the same number of points are added to every other person’s score. For example, if the highest score is 90, each person gets 10 points added to his score. In one class, the vast majority (about 80%) of the students had advance copies of the test. I was offered the answers, but of course, I refused. Now, I am at a disadvantage compared to the other students. Do I have any recourse? Should I do more to protest to my fellow students? Is it advisable to tell the professor? What can I do?
RABBI BELSKY
This is difficult to answer. This type of question manifests itself in many ways.
If everyone knows the answers and you don’t, there is a chance that you will look very bad. Still, a person shouldn’t use stolen tests. On the other hand, you can’t run and tell the professor, since that will ruin a lot of people, and I’m not sure if you should be the one to do it. It should be done, but not by you.
At the same time, protesting to your fellow students when you are offered the answers ahead of time will not help much. They’ll just laugh at you, and still use the answers. They may be desperate, since they want an opportunity to pass the course.
There are thousands of reasons they might come up with to justify what they’re doing. “It’s pikuach nefesh” (a life or death matter). Or: “It will spoil the shidduch (potential marriage) if I don’t,” and so on.
This is one of the situations where being totally honest places one in a difficult position. I think that a person in such a situation should study exceptionally well, even if it’s difficult to avoid getting some wrong answers on the test. If every other person will have all the answers, and they all amazingly score 100, probably the teacher will see there’s something fishy going on and examine the matter. The teacher will come to his or her own conclusions, without your getting involved. But the choices for you are very difficult. There’s almost no viable choice here that can fix the situation for you perfectly.
Let me clarify something. Studying for tests is important. But nobody has to totally devote days and nights for one test. It is better to be a 90 student instead of a 100 student. You can’t ruin your health and your sleep by studying day and night.
However, in this particular case, I think you should exert yourself even more, so that instead of getting a 91 or 92, you might get a grade even higher than that. This way, the teacher will be sensitive to the fact that you got an honestly high mark. Why? Because even if you’re at the bottom of the curve, you still did well enough to show that you are a serious student, even if you did not get a perfect score like the others who had the answers in advance.
QUESTIONER
So you could end up suffering by being honest in this case. Should your attitude be that since everything comes from Hashem, this is only a test, and I have no choice but to be honest? Should I be thinking that however the chips fall, everything is in Hashem’s Hand?
RABBI BELSKY
To take the test and put down stolen answers is a very dishonest thing. The fact that so many people do it is really very little consolation.
I was once told that in a very well known college, one of the deans announced that some people gave out the answers to a midterm to some students, and he described some of them as “boys in skullcaps.” It’s a very big chillul Hashem (desecration of Hashem). The amount of cheating that goes on today is just mind-boggling. A person shouldn’t be able, or willing, to write stolen answers on a test. You should study a lot so that you get a good – and honest – mark.
The only thing is, with a curve system, you’ll be punished unfairly because you’ll end up many points behind the others. Still, you can’t do something dishonest. Hopefully the truth will come out sooner or later. The teacher, if he has any brains to understand what’s going on, might notice the highly improbable marks. Then again, he may not. It’s interesting how some teachers might be extremely learned and skilled at teaching complicated subjects, yet when it comes to simple matters such as human issues, they have no clue about what is going on!
Being honest in this situation is just something that you have to do. I understand it’s very difficult. It’s something that at first glance may seem to be foolish, or even extreme, but it still is the right thing to do. I believe that a person who is fully honest will come out on top. It may not surface during this course. The teacher may not detect the cheating, and being honest may pose a problem at this time. But in the long run, the honest person will come out on top.
The others who stole the test this one time will probably be foolhardy enough to expect that they’ll be able to do it another time. They might stop studying and end up doing much worse than you. Honestly studying and preparing, without taking any detours, is the correct thing to do. That person ultimately will come out on top with a superior academic record and reputation. Even more, his moral reputation will be unsullied. There may be a momentary loss in the short term, but the gain is much more far reaching in the long term.
Again, I’m just looking at it from the aspect of loss and gain – an aspect that must be explained to people. It’s difficult to just tell people that it’s worth sacrificing one’s grades and academic standing for honesty, because “it’s the right thing to do.”
Yet, I think that this is the attitude one should have. There’s the likelihood that this will be an isolated incident, and that a lower mark on this test won’t be that damaging. This makes it somewhat easier for a person to choose the ‘honesty’ option in this situation.
However, I am absolutely certain about one thing. It always happens that a fully honest, hard-working student ends up on top. The others somehow get deeper and deeper into schemes, and actually end up digging a very deep hole for themselves, which can be very hard for them to get out of. Ultimately, cheating can be like a drug. A person who does it once, will begin to enjoy it. Even when he tries to stop, he can’t. Eventually, he can’t exist without it. Eventually, he will pay the price.
Question: You know that a certain teacher reuses his tests from previous years. Can you study using tests from prior years, knowing that one of them will probably be the test for this year? Is this considered cheating?
Rabbi Belsky's Answer:
This question is asked every year by dozens of students. It takes a tremendous amount of koach (energy) from teachers to go and prepare a decent test. A sloppy test is bad for the student, and is also bad for the teacher. Loads of hours go into making a good test. After four, five, or six times, the teacher may start repeating these tests and all the student has to do is memorize the answers to five or six tests. It’s not at all dishonest. You probably have a good review of 80% of the whole subject when you go through all the tests.
It is hard for me to say that it’s ossur (prohibited) or that it’s immoral. It’s a higher level of morality not to do it, and study. But it’s definitely not something that you could even taint by saying it’s ossur or by saying it’s immoral, because it does lead to a good knowledge of the material. It provides a pretty decent review.
If there are only one or two tests, then the teacher is a fool. The students will just copy the test and not learn anything. But if there are five, six or more tests, a teacher worked very hard for several years making the tests, and if you go through all the teacher’s tests, you’ll probably learn a lot.
There are review books that print many old tests that are available for everybody. Of course they don’t make the same tests all the time. They’ll make new tests. There are public institutions that have staff that make new tests every year.
If the person didn’t learn the material well enough, he really can’t copy the answers to all the questions. If he has the copies that he takes with him to the test, then he’s really cheating.
QUESTIONER
You say not using the old tests is considered a higher level of morality. Is that similar to what the Mishnah Berurah says, “A baal nefesh (conscientious person) will do such and such a thing”?
RABBI BELSKY
Yes. A baal nefesh wouldn’t want to look at that test. I’ll tell you why. A baal nefesh wouldn’t do such things because he may taint his nefesh (soul), and he might get used to doing things like that. He will just slip from one level to the next. He will stay away from doing such a thing if he wants to observe “m’dvar sheker tirchak” (distance yourself from falsehood). He will practice real harchokoh (distance) and he will try to stay away from anything that could lead him astray.
QUESTIONER
Let’s say you really did study, you know the material, and you just want to use the test only as a review. Should a baal nefesh refuse doing even that?
RABBI BELSKY
No. That’s mutar (permissible) even for a baal nefesh.
Rabbi Belsky's Answer:
This question is asked every year by dozens of students. It takes a tremendous amount of koach (energy) from teachers to go and prepare a decent test. A sloppy test is bad for the student, and is also bad for the teacher. Loads of hours go into making a good test. After four, five, or six times, the teacher may start repeating these tests and all the student has to do is memorize the answers to five or six tests. It’s not at all dishonest. You probably have a good review of 80% of the whole subject when you go through all the tests.
It is hard for me to say that it’s ossur (prohibited) or that it’s immoral. It’s a higher level of morality not to do it, and study. But it’s definitely not something that you could even taint by saying it’s ossur or by saying it’s immoral, because it does lead to a good knowledge of the material. It provides a pretty decent review.
If there are only one or two tests, then the teacher is a fool. The students will just copy the test and not learn anything. But if there are five, six or more tests, a teacher worked very hard for several years making the tests, and if you go through all the teacher’s tests, you’ll probably learn a lot.
There are review books that print many old tests that are available for everybody. Of course they don’t make the same tests all the time. They’ll make new tests. There are public institutions that have staff that make new tests every year.
If the person didn’t learn the material well enough, he really can’t copy the answers to all the questions. If he has the copies that he takes with him to the test, then he’s really cheating.
QUESTIONER
You say not using the old tests is considered a higher level of morality. Is that similar to what the Mishnah Berurah says, “A baal nefesh (conscientious person) will do such and such a thing”?
RABBI BELSKY
Yes. A baal nefesh wouldn’t want to look at that test. I’ll tell you why. A baal nefesh wouldn’t do such things because he may taint his nefesh (soul), and he might get used to doing things like that. He will just slip from one level to the next. He will stay away from doing such a thing if he wants to observe “m’dvar sheker tirchak” (distance yourself from falsehood). He will practice real harchokoh (distance) and he will try to stay away from anything that could lead him astray.
QUESTIONER
Let’s say you really did study, you know the material, and you just want to use the test only as a review. Should a baal nefesh refuse doing even that?
RABBI BELSKY
No. That’s mutar (permissible) even for a baal nefesh.