by Rabbi Adam B. Ruditsky
Congregation Shalom Yisrael
White Plains, New York

How many times have I heard people say, "HaShem has called me," called them to do this or that, and how many times has "this or that" changed within a week? As a spiritual leader of a community it is indeed frustrating, but it speaks to a greater issue, as James taught "Let your yes be yes and you no be no." Parashat Matot-Mas'ei begins in the following way in Numbers 30:1-2:

Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, "This is the thing which the LORD has commanded: If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth."

Yeshua taught on these things in Matthew 5:33-37 when he said;

"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.'  But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

The idea of vows, or oaths, meant a great deal in a variety of ways.  Torah readings for Yom Kippur come from the portion right before Pinchas, Numbers 29:7-11, leading some to suggest the connection between Pinchas and Matot with Yom Kippur and vows.  We read in the translation of Philip Birnbaum's High Holyday Prayer Book,

"All personal vows we are likely to make, all personal oaths and pledges we are likely to take between this Yom Kippur and the next Yom Kippur, we publicly renounce. Let them all be relinquished and abandoned, null and void, neither firm nor established. Let our personal vows, pledges and oaths be considered neither vows nor pledges nor oaths."

Forced conversions and other institutional commitments that were thrust on Jews in the Diaspora, so it was thought, was the genesis of this prayer, yet today it is just the general thought of annulling all vows and oaths falsely made. Rabbi Ari Lobel citing Jewish law on vows writes;

"A person who makes vows in order to rectify his character traits is considered meticulous and praiseworthy; e.g., a glutton who took an oath not to eat meat for a specific period, a drunkard who forbade for himself the drinking of wine or other alcoholic beverages, a vain person—preoccupied with his appearance —who vowed to be a Nazirite.  Vows of this nature are aspects of the service of G-d, blessed be His name, and concerning such oaths, [Pirke Avot 3:13] teaches: "Vows are a curb for abstinence." Nevertheless, a person should not become accustomed to making even such vows. Rather, he should attempt to control his desires without vows.

The end of the quote is clear enough—avoid making vows because of the human propensity to break them.  Vows then are promises or commitments to undertake, or abstain from, particular actions, lifestyles, etc.  All religions offer the opportunity to formalize one's intentions in this way, to such an extent that there can be uncertainty about whether a vow once made can be revoked. Thus, in Judaism, vows are not required, but once made they have to be carried out with precision (Deuteronomy 23. 22–4). Vows are thus inviolable (1 Samuel 14. 24 ff.; Judges 11. 30 ff.), but the rabbis evolved an elaborate system for the annulment of vows in the tractate Nedarim. With that aside, evenlooking at the Nazarite vow of Numbers 6, it is long understood to be voluntary.

A Qumran commentary on vows and oaths on Matot reads as follows:

And concerning the saying, "You shall keep your vow by fulfilling it (Deut 23:24)," let no man, even at the price of death, annul any binding oath by which he has sworn to keep a commandment of the Law.  But even at the price of death, a man shall fulfill no vow by which he has sworn to depart from the Law. Inasmuch as He said, "It is for her husband to cancel her oath (Num 30:9)," no husband shall cancel an oath without knowing whether it should be kept or not. Should it be such as to lead to transgression of the Covenant, he shall cancel it and shall not let it be kept. The rule for her father is likewise. No man shall vow to the altar anything unlawfully acquired. Also, no Priest shall take from Israel anything unlawfully acquired. And no man shall consecrate the food of his house to God, for it is as he said, "Each hunts his brother with a net (Mic 7:2)." Let no man consecrate.... And if he has consecrated to God some of his own field ... he who has made the vow shall be punished.... Every vow by which a man vows another to destruction by the laws of the Gentiles shall himself be put to death.

Vows should be in line with Heaven and not made frivolously, which makes them weighty. Here, a vow made outside of a Godly motivation or action is considered unnecessary and even makes little sense. To be sure then, at the end of this combined portion in Mas'ei, in Numbers 36:10-13, Moses is making good on his oath to the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph.  The daughters approached Moses in Numbers 27 saying they should not lose their fathers inheritance just because they had no brothers, or maybe better put their father did not have a son.  After discussions with Moses and Eliezer the priest, the daughters were made a vow that their father's inheritance would remain in their father family, as it says in Numbers 36:12, "They were married into the families of the children of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father's family."

Going back to how I began, yes a little tongue-in-cheek, but let me explain. "HaShem has called me to do this or that," and certainly that is how God works in our lives, but it can be too simple and too elusive. We must look within ourselves and question both this reality of knowing HaShem's ways and our ability to truly say yes. It is a funny thing, and at the end of the day we have the right to call the shots, a reason why many do not experience such strong leadings and blessings from God. The old saying, "Lord send me anywhere but Africa," is pregnant with overtones to be considered. The well meaning young man or woman graduates from Bible College and feels "called" into overseas missionary service, but will he or she go where they are called since they have given their lives to that type of service? What about the rich young ruler in Matthew who in his longing to follow God has embraced the mitzvot, which would include gemilut chasadim, acts of loving kindness, yet cannot sell what he has for the poor because of the luxuries he has amassed? Then there are vows and oaths we make to each other and the devastation that they can cause relationally when unfilled or trampled upon recklessly. Jewish tradition may teach that there are ways to annul vows—and there is place for that—but our yes needs to be yes because, "Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD (Leviticus 19:12). We need to be careful and more thoughtful about what comes out of our months, no to mention what we do.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam