How Sacred Is Your Word?

When a person feels incapable of dealing with temptation the Torah provided a vow. The vow is not just a psychological boost to buttress one’s inner strength and character. It actually generates greater G-dly energy helping the person to combat his weak nature.

Solemn Vows

Oaths and vows are devices used – even in the secular world – to add solemnity to one’s statements, and veracity to one’s testimony. Witnesses are “sworn in” before they testify; doctors take the Hippocratic Oath before they are allowed to practice medicine, etc. In addition – within the Jewish legal framework – a vow is a method by which one can distance oneself from a given object, behavior or person.

The latter form of a vow is the subject of this week’s Torah portion, Matos. A person who utters a promise in the name of G-d is duty bound by Jewish law to abide by this vow. For example, one who utters a vow not to eat bread is forbidden to eat bread. For this person, bread is as nonkosher as a piece of pork!

Retroactive

Yet, despite the fact that the Torah imposes a strict prohibition against eating the food that one vowed not to eat, the Torah provided a means to rescind this vow. By coming before a Jewish court and expressing regret for having made the vow, the rabbis have the power to nullify the vow. So strong is the power vested in them by the Torah, that the vows effect is nullified retroactively!

An illustration of retroactive nullification of a vow is provided by the Talmud. A man marries a woman with the stipulation that she has not made any vows that might interfere with their relationship. He states emphatically at the marriage ceremony that, if there are any such vows, the marriage is null and void. The Talmud points out that if in fact the woman had made such a vow but – subsequent to the marriage – she had the vow annulled by a Jewish court, she is considered married. Though at the time of the marriage she had such a vow which – based on the groom’s stipulation – nullified the marriage, the rabbi’s annulment worked retroactively to uproot that vow and rewrite history. It is considered as if the vow had never been made!

Needless to say, retroactive nullification of a prohibition is a difficult concept to digest.

How could something be considered a crime on Sunday, while the same act would not be a crime on Monday? Moreover, how can we explain how the vows that we violated on Sunday – and were regarded as violations then – are, in retrospect, considered to be no violation, once nullified by three rabbis on Tuesday?

True Intention

The halachic (Jewish legal) rationale for this phenomenon is that a vow is only as good as the intention that goes into it. When the rabbis nullify the vow they do it by demonstrating to the one who made the vow that he or she really did not consider all the ramifications of this action, and that deep down, he or she did not ever really and wholeheartedly make the vow in the first place.

The Mystical and Chassidic approach to this concept is to first focus on the very purpose of a vow. When a person feels incapable of dealing with temptation for a given thing, and it threatens to overwhelm the individual, the Torah provided a vow. It is not just a psychological boost to buttress one’s inner strength and character, but, it actually generates greater G-dly energy that gives the person greater fortitude to combat the individual’s weak nature.

When the person has successfully dealt with the temptation, the person can then rise to a higher level. By going to the three rabbis – in whom the Torah vested the power to nullify a vow – they actually enable the person to reveal an even higher aspect of G-dly energy (or: spiritual potential) than that which was revealed by way of the vow. Now, the person has the energy to transform that which was forbidden by virtue of the vow into a permissible act. There is no longer a need to struggle with the world so that it does not overwhelm the individual, as it did previously. The very source of temptation that one had to fight and resist has now been sublimated and transformed into a positive force.

This process is similar to the process of Teshuvah (repentance, return) which, when motivated by a passionate love for G-d, has the capacity to transform the sins into virtues.

Two Approaches to Temptation

The two approaches, one of the vow and the other of the nullification of the vow, represent two levels of dealing with the material world: fighting it (known in Chassidic/Aramaic parlance as “Iskafya”) or transforming it (referred to as “Ishapcha”). One cannot transform it, unless one has first successfully suppressed it.

This is actually the difference between the weekdays and the Shabbos. During the week, to withstand the temptations from the world with which we are engaged, we must muster the energy to suppress our desires. A business person must constantly struggle to resist the temptation to act unethically. Shabbos, however, is a time when the peace, serenity and holiness that prevails, sublimates all of our activities of the preceding week. There is no struggle and need to resist. It is a day when even our material pursuits, such as eating and drinking, become a Mitzvah.

Jacob and Israel

The Jewish people trace ourselves back to the Patriarch Jacob who was late renamed Israel. However, even after the name change we still refer to him as Jacob.

Chassidic thought explains that we, the Jewish people, have to modalities paralleling the names Jacob and Israel.

In the week days when we have to struggle with the material world we are Jacob. Jacob comes from the root, which means “heel.” On Shabbos we are the masters of the world and are therefore called Israel, which means mastery over spiritual and physical forces.

Exile and Moshiach

And these two levels also reflect the difference between the days of exile and the Messianic Era. Now, our focus is on combating the evil within us and suppressing temptation. Now the Jacob identity is more pronounced. However, In the Messianic Age the focus will be on transforming all evil into holiness.

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Matos-Masei by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.