DEUT119 A Jew is permitted to lie to avoid paying a tax that discriminates against Jews. (By implication, a person from any group would be permitted to lie to avoid paying a discriminatory tax directed against the group from which she comes.) Thus, during the reign of Shapur II (309-379 C.E.), a form of fire worship became the national and state-supported religion in Persia. To win converts to the faith, the Persian government exempted fire worshipers from the poll tax. In a Jewish version of the concept of "mental reservation," (see the footnote on page 428), the rabbinic scholar Rava ruled that it was permitted to avoid paying the tax by appearing before Persian officials and declaring oneself to be "a servant of fire." While the officials regarded such a statement as an acknowledgment that one was a follower of their religion, the Jew making the statement was instructed to think to himself that he was a worshiper of the one God, whom the Torah designates as a "consuming fire" [see this verse and Nedarim 62b). [In the Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 157:2, the Ramah (Rabbi Moses Isserles) rules that, in cases of danger, it is permitted to use ambiguous language to mislead idolaters into believing that you share their faith. However, at the beginning of this passage, Rabbi Joseph Karo rules that even when a Jew's life is at stake, it is forbidden to identify oneself explicitly as a believer in idolatrous religion.]