DEUT1495 The ethics of the halachah denounce a sin committed in secret as they do one which is perpetrated in public. According to Rabbi Isaac (Kidd. 31A): "He who commits a sin in secrecy, it is as if he had thrust aside the feet (the Presence) of the Shechinah. For it is said: 'Thus sayeth the Lord, the heaven is My Throne, and the earth is My footstool; where is the house that ye may build unto Me? And where is the place that may be My resting-place?'" (Isa. lxvi. 6). Helpful, as usual, is the comment of Rashi ad locum: "For him who sins in private God is not omnipresent, otherwise he would not have transgressed. Accordingly, it is as if he thrusts aside the Presence of God from his immediate circle, leaving part of the world devoid of His existence." The well-known statement of Rav (Bezah 9a) that: "Wherever the Rabbis prohibited an action for the sake of appearances, such an action is also forbidden in the intimate secrecy of one's innermost chamber" may have been inspired from a Biblical passage. From a study of the eleven sins, cursed in Deuteronomy xxvii. 15-25, it would appear that although the words "in secret" are mentioned in reference to the first (Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsmen, and setteth it up in secret), and in one other instance (v. 24) they are to be implied likewise in the case of the remaining ten sins. Since God fills the whole world with His glory, there can be no distinction between wrongs done publicly or privately.