Kesher Talk

"Let's Do Lunch" = "I'll Pretend to Care About You for the Next Five Minutes": A specific category of forbidden speech is called "genaivas daas," stealing someone's mind. This is not an ancient vision of some science fiction monstrosity; this is about deceiving people with our words. If we inquire about someone's life and we're really not interested, that's stealing his or her mind. We're creating an illusion of caring.

If we invite an acquaintance over for dinner and a) we never really intend to have them over ("Still remodeling your kitchen, Doris?") or b) we know for sure they're not available, we're stealing their minds. We're trying to satisfy an obligation without really...satisfying an obligation. We're trying to create an impression of friendship and good will without any of the effort involved in created true relationships.

posted by William @ 2/09/2004 09:10:00 AM