my conscience will not permit me to take advantage of thy ignorance."
Reverence for Truth and Simplicity not to be Sacrificed to the Forms of Courtesy—A Lesson of Rabbi Saphra
It happened that Rabbi Saphra took a walk with his disciples. As they went along, they met, at some distance from the town, a learned man, who, supposing that the Rabbi came purposely to meet him, thanked him for his condescension. "Do not thank me." said Saphra, "I only came to take a walk." The man was disconcerted, and betrayed some confusion. The disciples, who witnessed what passed, asked their master why he acted thus. "Would you, then, have me guilty of a falsehood?" said the pious Rabbi. "Nay," rejoined his disciples, "but thou mightest have been silent." "My children," said the virtuous instructor, "it becomes not a son of Israel to assume a merit not due to him; nor to cause, either by words or their absence, a false impression upon the mind of a neighbor."
