The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Mattos

The Rebbe says:

Part One:

1. In the beginning of this week’s Torah portion the Torah begins discussing Nedarim (vows) and says, “If a man takes a vow to Hashem or swears an oath to establish a prohibition upon himself, he shall not desecrate his word; according to whatever comes from his mouth shall he do”. The Torah then goes on to discuss the details of this law and explains that when a woman takes a vow and she is married or under the age to legally be considered a woman, her husband or her father can annul the vow. The Torah then concludes this topic by saying, “These are the Chukim (super-rational commands) which Hashem (G-d) commanded Moshe (Moses) concerning a man and his wife, and a father and his adolescent daughter who is under the jurisdiction of her father’s house”.

2. The Rebbe now lays the foundation for this discussion:

We have mentioned many times that the objective of Rashi (an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki) is to explain every detail of the verses that are not understood according to their simple meaning. And when Rashi does not explain something which is seemingly not understood, this is evidence that the issue can be easily understood on our own or that Rashi already explained this issue earlier.

A proof to this can be seen from the fact that Rashi sometimes writes, “I do not know what these words are teaching us”; if Rashi was not out to explain the meaning of every misunderstood verse he wouldn’t have written, “I do not know what these words are teaching us”; he wouldn’t have commented on it at all!

3. The Rebbe now explains how according to this we have a question regarding the above quoted verse:

When one reads the (abovementioned) concluding verse of the Nedarim topic he will have the following question, “If the point of this verse is to summarize and review the laws which precede it, and the topic recently under discussion was Nedarim, how could the verse not mention the general idea of Nedarim? The verse should have first mentioned that someone who makes a vow must keep it, and then recount the details- “a man and his wife and a father and his daughter”!”

However, we see that Rashi does not discuss this issue, and as we said earlier, this is indicative that the issue is self understood. Therefore, we must say that there is a simple explanation for this and we must try to understand this.

4. The Rebbe now suggests an answer and then demands a more detailed explanation of this answer:

Once the verse says, “These are the Chukim (super-rational commands) which Hashem (G-d) commanded Moshe”, it cannot mention Nedarim anymore because fulfilling Nedarim do indeed have a rational reason for them, as the Torah says earlier, “(A man must keep Nedarim) so that he may not profane or secularize his word”,. On the other hand the details of Nedarim, the laws of a man and his wife and a father and his daughter, do not have a rational explanation and therefore this fits perfectly with this verse which is discussing Chukim (super-rational commands).

However this itself needs explanation: In its summary of the previous laws, why does the Torah only review the super-rational aspects of the laws of Nedarim and not review the law itself (that one who makes a vow must keep it)?

5. The Rebbe now explains the answer:

The fact that someone who makes a vow must keep it is self understood and we do not need a special verse in the Torah to tell us this. Also, it is already included in the commandment, “Distance yourself from a false word”. Moreover, one would understand that he must keep a vow from the way the Torah discusses vows earlier on.

Being that this is the case, that it is self understood that one must keep a vow they made and we do not need a specific verse in the Torah to tell us this, we find the idea of people taking vows and keeping them before the Torah was even given. For example, the Torah tells us that Yaakov Avinu (Jacob our father) “took a vow, saying, “If G-d will be with me… then this stone shall become a house of G-d”, and then later Hashem told Yakov Avinu, “I am the G-d of Bet El where you anointed a pillar and where you made Me a vow, and you must pay me now”.

Another example is where the Torah tells us that if a man takes a vow to give the worth of someone who was twenty to sixty years of age to charity he must pay fifty silver Shekels. Again, the Torah does not tell us that if a man makes a vow he must keep it; that is obvious. The Torah only feels the necessity to tell us how much exactly he must pay.

Indeed, there are many more examples proving this [but for the sake of brevity the editor has left them out].

Therefore, we must say that in the beginning of this week’s Torah portion when it says, “If a man takes a vow to Hashem or swears an oath to establish a prohibition upon himself, he shall not desecrate his word; according to whatever comes from his mouth shall he do”, the Torah is not trying to teach us a new law, it is merely opening up the discussion of vows which will lead into the laws of a married woman or an underage girl. It is as if the Torah is saying, “With regards to vows, which we know a man has to keep, there are some details I need to teach you regarding a married woman and an underage girl”.

Once we realize this we can easily understand why the verse which summarizes the laws which the earlier verses taught us did not include the actual law that a man who makes a vow must keep it because this law is so obvious. Indeed, this was so obvious that Rashi did not even feel the need to address this.

Part Two:

1. The Rebbe begins explaining how all of the above will shed light on something else:

The first verse of this week’s Torah portion reads, “Moshe spoke to the tribal leaders of Bnei Yisroel (the children of Israel) saying: ‘This is the word that Hashem has commanded”, and then Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) went on to discuss the subject of Nedarim.

Rashi tells us that this verse is teaching us that Moshe Rabbeinu bestowed honor on the tribal leaders by always teaching them first and only afterwards would he teach the Bnei Yisroel.

Rashi then asks, “Why does the Torah teach us this specifically here if it could have taught it to us at any other law?” The reason, says Rashi, is because the Torah wants to teach us another thing as well. The Torah also wants to teach us that vows can be nullified by a single expert, and when there is no expert, nullification can be done by three laymen.

2. The Rebbe asks a question on Rashi:

Granted, we must say that from the fact that this verse is said specifically by the subject of Nedarim it must be trying to teach us something extra regarding Nedarim. However, why does Rashi think that this verse is teaching us something regarding the opposite of vows- absolving them?

3. The Rebbe explains how according to the above explanation (in Part One) Rashi is understood:

As we explained earlier (in Part One), the only reason the Torah writes these sixteen verses is to tell us the laws of an underage girl or a married woman who makes a vow. More specifically, the novelty which the Torah is coming to teach us here is that a girl’s father or a woman’s husband can absolve their vow (because to teach us that when they make a vow they must keep it is obvious). Therefore, we can be sure that if the Torah wants to teach us something extra regarding this subject from the verse about the tribal leaders, it must be teaching us something regarding absolving a vow because that is the subject matter.

4. The Rebbe now explains how this explanation fits with the esoteric meaning of Nedarim:

As we have discussed on an earlier occasion, the Jerusalemite Talmud tells us that, “It is enough what the Torah decreed upon you to stay away from (therefore don’t add more)”, and when we consider that, “Hashem’s intention for creating the world was to have a dwelling place down here in physicality”, this statement of the Jerusalemite Talmud makes perfect sense because we must work with physicality and elevate it, not stay away from it.

On the other hand however our sages tell us that, “Vows are a fence for abstinence”. In other words, making Nedarim is synonymous with separating oneself from worldly pursuits and when we do this we fulfill the commandment to “Make yourself holy even in the things that you are permitted to do”.

The reconciliation between these two directives of our Sages is simple: When our Sages tell us to make fences around physicality they are talking to someone who is at the level where physicality may drag him down, however when our Sages tell us not to make fences they are talking to someone who will not be brought down by physicality and therefore he must work with it to elevate it.

We can see from this that the ultimate goal is to be at a level where you do not need Nedarim; to be at a level where physicality does not bog you down.

Therefore, back to our discussion at hand, when the Torah wants to teach us something from the verse about the tribal leaders who were men of stature, the Torah cannot be teaching us something which is connected to keeping Nedarim because at their level you do not need and therefore cannot have Nedarim. The Torah must be teaching us something about the level of the tribal leaders who do not have to make a vow; the Torah must be teaching us something about absolving a vow.

5. The Rebbe now explains how according to this explanation the nearby subject which the Torah speaks about fits perfectly with this theme:

Just before the Torah tells us about Nedarim and absolving them, the Torah speaks about the Jewish people entering into Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel). The difference between the service of the Jewish people when they were in the desert and when they entered Eretz Yisroel was that when they were in the desert they had everything taken care of for them whereas when they entered Eretz Yisroel they would have to work for everything.

Therefore, right as they are about to enter Eretz Yisroel the Torah tells them that the purpose of this is to work with physicality and elevate it, which is the theme of absolving vows.
Additionally, since keeping vows are also mentioned here, we must say that the idea of having vows is also teaching a lesson to the ones entering Eretz Yisroel:

As we quoted earlier (in Part One), when the Torah tells us to keep vows it says, “If a man takes a vow to Hashem or swears an oath to establish a prohibition upon himself, he shall not desecrate his word; according to whatever comes from his mouth shall he do”. Rashi says that the words, “he shall not desecrate his word”, is like, “he may not secularize his word”.

In other words, the Torah is teaching the ones to enter Eretz Yisroel that even though they will have to work with physicality it should not be in a secular way; they should bring holiness into it. And since this level of having vows is a level that everyone can be at (as we explained earlier), we must say that this is demanded of everyone.

How do we have the strength for this? Says the Torah, “Between a man and his wife, and a father and his daughter”; Hashem, who is compared to the husband and father of the Jewish people will give us the strength for this.

Translated and adapted by Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos volume thirteen, first Sicha.