Keep Our Word/G-d Keep Your Word

Speech is G-d’s gift to humanity. Cherish it and guard it. G-d also uses speech to make promises. We ask Him to keep and cherish His promises for a better world.

No Freedom of Speech

Civilized society recognizes the importance of honoring one’s word.

But only in the Torah, in this week’s parsha, do we find that it is actually a legal imperative, to keep one’s vows:

“The utterances of your mouth you shall guard and you shall do as you have pledged to G-d your L-rd…”

This commandment is one of the many that apply to the faculty of speech. We are enjoined from slandering others, speaking gossip, using obscene language etc.

What is it about the power of speech that prompts the Torah to so regulate the way we talk, including the imperative to honor one’s verbal commitments?

The answer to these questions will shed light on the novel and radical way Judaism treats the power of speech.

Speech Defines our Humanity

In classical Jewish literature a human being is referred to as a speaker. It is what distinguishes us from all other of G-d’s creatures. Indeed, the gift of gab is qualitatively different from all the other incredible gifts G-d has given us. Our ability to communicate our innermost feelings or the most profound concepts is a gift G-d has given us so that we can share our spiritual wealth with others and thereby affect the world.

Because it is such a precious instrument, it must be guarded accordingly. In the same manner as one would not use an expensive electronic or laser instrument to open a can of beer, one must never use the extremely delicate and treasured gift of speech for some lowly and objectionable use.

Hence the Torah exhorts us to preserve the integrity of this power of speech.

No Delay

The Torah goes even further. Not only are we to keep our word, when we make a vow to G-d, we are not even permitted to delay implementation of our pledge:

“When you make a pledge to G-d your L-rd, do not be late in paying it.”

The Talmud applies this to a case where one vows to donate money to charity (a needy person, G-dly institution such as a synagogue, educational facility etc.), they must not procrastinate in actually making the contribution. (Of course, if one had stipulated when they made the pledge that they are going to contribute at a designated time in the future, they have the right to give the money then.)

The question begs to be asked, why doesn’t the donor have the right to decide when he or she wants to make good on the promise? After all, wasn’t the pledge done voluntarily? Why don’t we have the freedom to decide when we will make good on that pledge?

In legal terminology the principle that applies here is that when one makes a pledge, it is as if they actually gave the money to the needy person or cause to whom they’ve pledged. To delay giving the money would be tantamount to withholding something that rightfully belongs to someone else.

The same can be said with regard to a vow made to G-d. Once the pledge was made to contribute something to a G- dly cause, the money no longer belongs to the donor. Hence, what right do we have to withhold something that belongs to G-d and His institutions?

One can raise a legitimate question: What is the distinction between making a pledge to charity or to G-d and making a commitment to give an ordinary gift to another individual who is not needy? Why is it that if one was to tell his friend, “I will give you a hundred dollars” that he is not in violation of the Biblical commandment if he delays making good on his gift?

Obviously, a person should keep his word even when making commitments to others for mundane purposes, but there is nothing improper for one to delay making good on his or her gift, What’s the difference?

Reverting to G-d’s Ownership

The answer lies in a better understanding of the way Judaism looks at our right to ownership of property.

Essentially, everything belongs to G-d. In the words of the Psalmist: “The earth and all therein are G-d’s; the world and its inhabitants.” (Psalm 24). This is why, the Talmud explains, there is a need to recite a blessing before one partakes of food, so that one has permission to benefit from G-d’s universe. Similarly, when we utilize all of the G- d given resources at our disposal for living a just and moral life, G-d allows us to enjoy His bountiful world.

However, when a person makes a vow to contribute to a G- dly cause, the status of that money automatically reverts to its original state: it is G-d’s property.

Similarly, Jewish thought views the act of giving charity not simply an act of generosity, but also an act of righteousness. Hence the Hebrew word for charity is Tzedakah, which means righteousness. By giving Tzedakah, one is actually returning the money that rightfully belongs to the needy recipient. When G-d apportioned the resources to humanity, He chose to give the money to a poor person through the generosity of the rich individual. The rich individual serves as a trustee of those funds. Therefore, as soon as one makes the pledge to give Tzedakah, the money automatically reverts to the rightful owner.

G-d: Please Don’t Delay!

The Midrash declares that all of the commandments that we were commanded to observe, G-d “observes” as well. How does this apply to G-d keeping His word?

The Torah informs us that the world was created with G- d’s word. Furthermore, G-d has promised us—in the Torah—that He will bring an end to the pain and suffering that has punctuated our existence in exile. It is therefore imperative that G-d should also keep His word and bring us the ultimate Redemption that we have been waiting and praying for, for the last 2,000 years.

And not only is it imperative that He keep His word, but, there is also a commandment for Him not to delay. Our daily prayers, composed by the prophets of old with Divine inspiration, are replete with requests and demands that G-d keep His promise and bring us the Redemption quickly.

But here too we can ask, why should He be obligated to not delay?

Redemption: It Belongs to Us

We can supply the same answer. When we make a pledge to charity we are not truly giving something that is unequivocally ours. We are returning the money or object to the one to whom it originally belonged or to the one whom it was intended for originally. G-d in His infinite kindness allowed us to get credit for the act of giving as if it was totally ours that we were so graciously donating.

Similarly, the world’s initial state was one of a garden, Remember the Garden of Eden was the world’s original state of existence. We, as people, began with a clean slate, endowed with a holy, divine soul. In Judaism there is a concept of “original virtue.”

When we ask G-d to take us out of exile we are not asking of Him to do something radically new. We are simply asking for Him to restore the world and us to its and our original state. Hence, when He made that promise to redeem us, Redemption became rightfully ours. We have a legal right to demand that it be given to us without any further delay!

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Ki Seitzei by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.