A Leg to Stand On

When someone wants to register an opinion that something is completely false, one favored Hebrew expression is the emphatic “Sheker v’chazav!” But since no two synonyms in Lashon Kodesh have exactly the same meaning, there must be some subtle difference between these two words for falsity. What are their distinct meanings?

Sheker is the easy one. It means a simple falsehood, a plain lie. We (hopefully) know sheker when we see it – because it’s right there in open view.

Cazav, on the other hand, is defined by the great Malbim, who authored an entire work on Hebrew synonyms, as something that has the veneer of truth, but is false at its core. It is a lie encased in truth.

The letters of each of these words, in fact, reflect this distinction. The Gemara (Shabbos 104a) makes an observation about the particular letters forming the words emes and sheker. Emes consists of three letters – aleph, mem and sof – which all rest firmly either on some form of a broad base. Sheker, in contrast, is formed by three letters – shin, kuf and reish – all of which teeter precariously on a single slender leg or pointy bottom. The medium, says the Gemara, is itself the message: emes ka’i, shikra lo ka’i. This means that emes stands – or better, it remains standing, endures – while sheker “doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”