Amelia Week 5: Restoring Faith…By Lying?!

Over the winter break of 2021, I was a counselor at the JCC camp. I was assigned to a group of girls from 4-7 years old. Although the camp was at the Jewish Community Center, not all the girls were Jewish. I was eating lunch with my group of kids one day when one of the Jewish girls came up to me and told me that she was really worried because her little sister told some of the non-Jewish girls that she knew Santa Claus wasn’t real. I panicked because I didn’t want these girls’ faith in Santa to be ruined, as I knew how important it was to have a big imagination as a child. So, as any counselor would do, I told a white lie. I approached the non-Jewish girls who appeared to be mortified because of the new information they learned: Santa Claus wasn’t real! So I told these girls, “no, Santa is real,” with the most confident tone I could. I continued to tell them that I am Jewish, so I don’t celebrate Christmas, but that I have a non-Jewish friend who does celebrate Christmas and she saw Santa’s sleigh in the sky! Of course, this wasn’t true, but I knew that I had to restore these young girls’ faith so their childhood wouldn’t be ruined. So I searched for pictures, and google came through, of course, with plenty of fake but realistic pictures of Santa’s sleigh in the sky. 

I showed them all the proof that the internet provided and they ended up believing me! They were so excited to see the pictures and their frown turned upside down. In a very mature way, I understood how it felt to have people question what you believe in and then end up questioning it yourself. I know these girls probably won’t believe in Santa forever, but I want them to be able to believe in what they want to at such a young age. Anyways, I completed my task, and peace was restored, but this brings up the question, “is lying ever okay?”. I think the answer is yes. You shouldn’t lie all the time, and I don't want it to seem like I am claiming that. I do think, however, you can lie to spare people’s feelings (childhood innocence in this case). In fact, sometimes I would rather be lied to. On the Shabbaton, I told my friends multiple times to lie to me and tell me how not-nauseating and quick the rides were because that is the only way I would go on them. Even if that wasn’t true, I wanted them to tell me that because I knew I would end up having a blast on the rides, I just needed someone to tell me how mellow the rides were so I would go on. I ended up having the best time on the ride and was so happy I decided to go on the rollercoasters. I think that lying to the girls by showing them the pictures of Santa was the right thing to do, but what do you think? Is lying sometimes okay? Have you ever been in a situation where you were stuck on whether you should lie or tell the truth?