RA M BA M A ND TH E RA V
(rambamrav.blogspot.com)
IDEAS ON THE PARSHA OF THE WEEK
MATOS
RABBI MOSHE BEN MAIMON & RABBI YOSEPH B. SOLOVEITCHIK
COMPILED AND EDITED BY RABBI RICHARD BORAH
The parsha of Matos states, “ When a man vows a vow unto the Lord, or swears an oath to bind with
a bond upon his soul, he shall not break his word; according to all that proceeds out of his mouth he
shall do. “ (Matos, 30;3) The Rambam states: “ The following rules apply when a person took an oath
(“sh’vuat bitui”) and then regretted having taken the oath. If he sees that he will suffer if he upholds
this oath and his intent changes or a factor occurred that was not in his intent originally when he took
the oath and he changed his mind because of this, he may appeal (to be released from his oath) from
one sage or from 3 ordinary people in a place where there are no sages. His oath is repealed and he is
permitted to perform the matter that he took the oath not to do or not to do the matter that he took an
oath to do. This is called the release from the oath.” (Mishnah Torah, Shvuot: Chapter 6).
Rav Soloveitchik questions the logic of how the Torah allows for the release from a vow. In the text
“Dreshot HaRav-Selected Lectures of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik”(summarized and annotated by
Arnold Lustiger) it states: “How can one effect a release from vows at all, when the Torah specifically
warns “he shall not desecrate (yahel) his word; according to whatever comes out of his mouth he shall
do.” (Numbers 30:3) ? The answer is that when a person shows remorse, there is a halakhic mechanism
whereby the vow can be nullified by means of a legal device known as petah. Through petah, the
person who vows declares that had he known then what he knows now he would never have made the
vow.” (p. 95) The Rav clarifies here that the regret that is required in the nullification of a vow has a
particular quality of shame which reflects the fact that the person realizes that the person who took the
vow did not represent the true self of the person. It is more than simply a mistake or a miscalculation.
The vow was not taken, so to speak, by the “real person”, the core persona of the individual. This, the
Rav explains, is the logic of release from the vow. He states in the same essay, “Through the word
“vayehal”, we can understand the basis of Moshe’s defense of the Jewish people (for the Golden Calf).
He reminded Hashem that He had given his people the capability of release from their vows, that regret
allows one to appear before the court and effect hatarat nedarim (release from vows). The court first
looks for a signal of regret, or shame and then it pronounces the vow to become retroactively void
(see other side)
because it was uttered mistakenly. The court is able to make this assertion through recognition of man’s
schizophrenic tendencies. The fragment of the verse ”HaAdam b’shavuah” (Vayikra, 5:4), implies that
before one makes a shvuah obligation, the complete person , the entire individual must take on the
obligation. Man sometimes assumes commitments that under normal
circumstances he would never accept, obligations that will affect the rest of
his life. The “real” individual did not make these agreements; “someone else”
made them.” (p. 99-100).
In the text, “The Rav Speaks-Five Addresses” which transcribes the 5
Evergreen Grant presentations given by the Rav to conventions of the Mizrachi Religious
Writing Zionist Movement during the period of 1962-1967 he relates this idea of the
“Funding Your Vision” “real person” versus the “imposter” to the process of teshuvah and the tragic
Free Consultation history of Elisha ben Abuya (Aher). He states here, “ The Sages relate that R.
Call Richard: Meir asked of Aher (Elisha b. Abuya) when he was riding his horse on the
(516) 448-6069 Sabbath, “You also, repent”; and according to the Talmud Bavli, Aher
answered: “I have heard from behind the curtain, “Return O backsliding
Evergreen Grant Writing
children, except for Aher.’” According to the Talmud Yerushalmi he said: “I
will work with your
was once riding the horse on Yom Kippur which happened to fall on the
organization to acquire
Sabbath, behind the Holy of Holies, and I heard a heavenly voice say: ’return
funding through public
O backsliding children, except for Elisha b. Abuya…’ The Rav continues:
and private grants. There
“Do you really think that Aher actually heard what he heard and understood
are thousands of private
the heavenly voice correctly? Can then a heavenly voice decide against one of
foundations as well as
the fundamentals of Jewish faith, against the halachah which declares that
local state and federal
“even if he denied the Divine Presence throughout his life but repented at the
government agencies with
end he is accepted, as it is written: Thou brings man to contrition (Ps. 90,3)-to
billions of dollars to
the crushing of his soul.’ The Rav continues,
support worthy programs.
“It seems to me that the real intent of the
heavenly voice can be found in the different
Sample Current Grants: readings of the Talmud Bavli and Talmud
Yerushalmi. How did the heavenly voice call
NYS Dept. of State:
$100,000 Job skills grant to him? By Elisha b. Abuya, his proper name,
Due: August 10, 2011 or by Aher, his pseudonym? The answer is It’s My
plain. The heavenly voice called him, pleaded
NYS DOTA: $450,000
Homelessness Prevention
with him, drew him to itself; the Divine Party!!
Due: August 1, 2011 Presence pampered him like a mother who in
all circumstances has only good to say of her CUSTOM PARTY
NYS Dept of Health
child. The sharp “except” for was to Aher, but SERVICES
Healthcare Retraining
$19,369,000 NYC Funding not to Elisha B. Abuya. The Talmud Bavli One of a Kind
gives the exact words of the heavenly voice.
$ 3,027,000 LI Funding Items….
September 16, 2011 The Divine Presence drew Elisha b. Abuya to
it, but pushed away Aher. Because the true
NYS Office of Parks, Scrap Books
Recreation & Historic Tanna, the Sage of the Sages of Israel whose
Preservation. to $400,000 Torah Rabbi quotes in Pirkey Avot, never Sign in Boards
September 1, 2011 sinned… Someone else was the traitor; another Photo Albums
personality-Aher.” (The Rav Speaks –Five
Addresses p. 194-195) Call Andrea
(516) (516)
(see other side) 652-1213