Numbers Cycle Six Matot Masei

Matot and Masei

This week we study Matot and Masei. 

The subject of vows and oaths are crucial in understanding not only these parashot but the whole history of humanity. The importance of it is validated by the rabbis who have devoted a whole tractate of Mishnah to it (11 chapters) and 91 folios in the Gemara.

The idea is this: If a vow (as we read in Talmud) refers to the object and if an oath refers to the person we (as told by our sages) have a three hundred and sixty degree span in our responsibility to honor it. We can’t blame a breakage on ourselves or on some unknown and chaotic unseen fact that has to do with an exterior thing. In short, we can’t blame it on the tennis racket. We can’t reach for excuses. Our children, our dogs, our horses, our cars, our house, our work, our need for coffee, our need for time, our panic, our fear, our insanity, our absolute confusion, our soul. None of these can suddenly be the perfect reason to break a vow or an oath. It would be like laying a brick down when building a building and then after many more you decide you want that original brick back. What could happen? Well, you may end up under a ton of them!

Of course, it’s done all the time. Behind closed doors in houses and offices, in organizations both nonprofit and for-profit, there are many bricks missing. They are pulled impulsively, often with what seems like thought, sometimes at the drop of a hat.  Houses often become slanted or so close to tumbling down that not even the perfectly mowed lawn can mask it. The neighbors can feel the tension even when the windows are closed. The whole world can feel it. The whole world responds to it in often a harmful way. 

  

Let’s back up though. What (again) does it mean to take this vow/oath? Raba (Nedarim) explains it fairly simply. As soon as one says…Behold, I am doing this or that….than one has made a vow.

It isn’t a casual ting though. It’s more than skin deep. A miraculous thing has happened. An idea without words has formed into letters in your mind. You have weighed the idea in both esoteric and literal form. You have finally made the sounds with your lips. Other people have heard. If you are not fully educated or prepared than certain people have watched over you to make sure that the vow is safe.  They have agreed to it. These vows have to do with marriage, secrecy, allegiance, friendships. They are little connections that happen every day. They seem to be far from God. This is the thing though:

There is one vow that encompasses all. It’s the One holy vow. It’s the deep soul within the center of every vow we make. It’s our promise to listen to the holiness all around us, to see the beauty and the light inherent in every blade of grass, in every journey we make.

A vow in fact is a journey. It’s like passing through fire. As we read this week: Anything to be purified that can pass through fire should do just that and then be sprinkled with water. Anything that can’t pass through fire should be purified with water. 

The Ramban uses this line to explain the idea of kashrut.  A vow therefore can be seen as a self-inflicted act of purification in order to ultimately become closer with God. It isn’t easy.  It’s the fire of love, of honor, of anything ravishing. It’s the action we do to manifest our closeness with God and to feed into our love for Him.

A vow is important. Think real had before you step forward. If you are ready it will be a trip you never forget. It may last a lifetime. It may last seven weeks. It will contribute to much more than you ever dreamed of.  But think about it first. Make sure you can stand the heat. Pulling out can cause deep burns far and wide. Even God says to Moshe…it’s fine to choose water instead.