September 2, 2021; Elul 25, 5781
Halacha – Jewish Law Speaking Imprecisely
Even when a precise answer is the most truthful answer, a person may speak imprecisely if he is following the typical manner of the way people speak.
Example 1: A person may say it’s 10:00 even if he knows it is really 9:58, because that is the generally accepted way people tell each other the time.
Example 2: The Torah counts all 12 sons of Yaakov as being born to him in Padan Aram (Genesis 35:26). In truth, only 11 sons were born in Padan Aram as Binyamin was born in Eretz Yisrael. However, since the
overwhelming majority of the sons were born in Padan Aram, the Torah
reckons it as if all of the sons were born there.