Q:
You said tonight that a man should always act like a fine gentleman to his wife even though he isn’t. But isn’t it wrong to deceive your wife?
A:
Keep on deceiving her! If you can deceive your wife for the next seventy years into thinking that you’re a nice fellow, then deceive her. You do whatever you can, all day long, to make her think that you’re a wonderful fellow, a gem of a person.
And when it comes to the Next World, she will say, “Oh, he was such a wonderful husband.”
So they’ll say, “He wasn’t such a fine fellow.”
And she’ll say, “No! He was wonderful! I can testify that he was a wonderful husband!”
And Hashem will take her word for it. Hashem will say, “I’ll take your word for it.”
So you keep on deceiving her and Hakadosh Baruch Hu will reward you for it.
Now, that doesn’t mean that you should say that you’re a fine fellow, no—but you should always act like a fine fellow, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu will reward you for that.
(July 1993)
