This weeks Sedra discusses the laws of vows and oaths.
The Verse states “If a man takes a vow to Hashem or swears an oath to prohibit a prohibition upon himself, he shall not profane his words, according to whatever comes out of his mouth he should do”.
The sefer Nesivos Sholom questions why the strong expression of profaning is used? Shouldn’t the expression of violating be used instead, since not keeping an oath is just a violation of one’s words?
He answers that the mouth is not simply an organ used to express ourselves, rather it is a powerful tool which can achieve very great things when used correctly, and vice versa; if misused it will be weakened. Someone who has used his mouth correctly may have a much stronger power of prayer and his prayers will be answered to a much greater degree.
We find that when Yaakov captured the city of Shechem from the Emorites he described it as the city which he took with his “sword and bow”. The Targum explains that this expression refers to his prayers. The analogy to weapons portrays the immense power our words have, they are able to achieve great things through prayer. The mouth is indeed a formidable weapon.
Through this we can understand why the Torah uses the expression of profaning your mouth. The mouth is holy due to its great powers and if one does not keep his word, not only has he violated it and been dishonest, he has actually defiled and weakened the power of his mouth.
I once heard a story about the Mashgiach of the famous Ponevezh Yeshivah, Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein, known as Reb Chatzkel. (1885 – 1974) He was known to be very meticulous about every action he took and every word he spoke; he never said even a single unnecessary word and also refrained from giving blessings. A student of his who had been married for many years once did Reb Chatzkel a favour and as a result was offered a blessing for children. When asked which gender he wanted, the student took the opportunity to ask for twins (a boy and a girl). Reb Chatzkel replied ‘nu-nu’ (an expression of ‘let it be so’) and amazingly just one year later the blessing came true.
This story illustrates the power of a mouth kept so pure, that as a result of his small expression of ‘nu-nu’ such a powerful blessing came about.
Reb Chatzkel was a very great man and this story is an extreme example. We may not yet be at such a high level of purity, but can still aspire to improve our purity of speech, thereby increasing the power of our mouths.
We are currently marking the 3 weeks period; a time of mourning for the destruction of the Temple, and being exiled from our land. We are told by the sages that the destruction resulted from the sin of ‘loshon horah’ (improper speech). Now, is therefore a good opportunity to be extra careful with our purity of speech.
There is a famous misconception which states: ‘sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me’. However, we can all testify to the fact that harsh words do have the strength to break a person and destroy his inner self. On the contrary a sincere, well placed compliment can make another person’s day, build him and help to bring out his full potential. Let us try to make this happen!
In the merit of using our speech positively may we all see the final Redemption speedily in our days.
Good Shabbos, Moshe
