02 August 2024

Week of 28 July-03 August 2024

Torah portion: Num. 30:2-36:13   Haftarah: Jer. 2:4-28,3:4

Theme:  The Laws of oaths and vows.

Parashat Matot, commentators note, begins with Moshe speaking to the heads of the tribes [matot] of Israel rather than the norm of speaking to the whole people. Weisberg notes an observation made by Rabbi Moses Sofer that this is so “because [it is] leaders who most often fail to fulfill their promises and commitments” (Eskenazi 1006). There are both personal and communal implications to vows and commitments. When nations renege on their commitments of monetary assistance to nations; rebuilding after disasters; the entire community of nations suffers: the former, because the help is not forthcoming; and the latter, because their word cannot be trusted. The events of the attack of October 2023 or even the current status of war in Israel to fight the terrorist group that is still spreading death,and fear among the nations and neighboring countries, also come to mind and one can only ponder the difficulty faced by nations who have promised their citizens that retaliatory action will be taken against those who have harmed them. How are nations to navigate their way to a change in rhetoric from that of seeking vengeance under the guise of security, to a desire for finding a way to building peace founded on justice and mercy? I also wondered about the personal vows many readers are familiar with, marriage vows and religious vows. What are we to do when we can no longer live our sacred vows in fidelity and truth, when we break our vows?

  The opening chapter of this parashah calls us to pay close attention to words. As I read and reread the section of Parashat Matot about vows and oaths, I wondered about the differences between biblical and contemporary understanding of the terms. The Jewish Study Bible explains that biblically “vow and oath obligations differ from each other in that a vow is conditional. It binds the devotee only after God fulfills the requested blessing” (343) as in the examples of Jacob (Gen. 28:20, 22), Jephthah (Judg. 11:30-31) and Hannah (1 Sam. 1:11). Fox comments that the very length of the chapter attests to “the sacredness of an oath in ancient Israel: it stood as uttered unless an annulment procedure was followed.  Human words, and not only divine ones, were seen as having effects in the real world” (Fox 808). In some way this idea seems to stand in contradistinction to our own time.   

 If we truly believe in the power of the word, that it can be used to build up or destroy people and nations, what might we glean from the Kol Nidrei [All Vows] the opening prayer of the Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement] evening service and the response of the people, “All the Children of Israel and the strangers in their midst are forgiven, for the whole people has acted unintentionally” (Num.15:26). Ellenson notes that “some vows are rash, regrettable or unrealizable; some are made under duress.  Kol Nidrei reminds us that we have the choice to keep or annul our vows” (Eskenazi, 1008).  It is not that vows are unimportant but rather that they are so important that we humbly come before God seeking annulment for those we fail to keep that we ought to; and release from those that ought never to have been made.

For Reflection and Discussion: 1.Discuss the ripple effect of one’s personal relationships, one’s relationship with God with communal and global relationships. 2. Discuss the truth/veracity of Fox’s statement about human and divine words in your own experience and understanding.

Bibliography: McKenzie, J.L. Dictionary of the Bible (New York: 1965), Eskenazi, ed., The Torah: A Women’s Commentary (New York 2008); Fox, The Five Books of Moses (New York 1995); Lieber, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (New York 2001); The Jewish Study Bible (New York 2004).

This week’s Parasha Commentary was prepared by
Dunhill Malunar Timkang, Israel, Bat kol Alumnus: 2023

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