Overcoming Challenges – Parshat Matot-Masei

Is it permitted or forbidden? Will I be able to pass this test? Is there a way to go back? And how are these questions connected to Yom Kippur and to this week’s parsha? Our discussion this week will address these questions.

This week’s Torah portions are “Matot” and “Masei” which are connected into one parsha and read one after the other. The parsha opens with the law of vows. Let us introduce the topic of vows with a practical example:

Drinking wine is permitted. It is true that a person should be careful not to drink too much, but the Torah basically permits drinking wine. Let us say a man sees a bottle of red wine and he has a strong desire to drink it, but he is afraid of that he might drink too much, so he declares: “I hereby swear that for one month I will not taste any wine.” At that moment, the wine becomes for him a Torah prohibition. Now let us imagine that there is a delicious entrecote steak on the table, and someone at the table is afraid that he will overeat, so he declares: “I hereby vow not to eat any entrecote steak for one year.” With his own mouth, the person has made the eating of steak a severe Torah prohibition for himself for one year, as if it were, G-d forbid, non-kosher meat.

Why would a person choose to make a vow that would forbid him from doing something? He sees that he has a strong desire to drink wine, and drinks what he has down to the very last bitter drop. Then he decides that this was enough! He has had enough of being drunk, but despite his decision, he still fears that perhaps tomorrow he will not be able to stand up to the test. Maybe when he smells the wine, he will have an unrestrainable craving for it and will not be able to stand up to the test. Or in the case of eating meat, a person may worry that he will lose control of himself and overeat. These are examples of “eating disorders” as they are called nowadays, and a person wants to put an end to the vicious cycle he finds himself in. In a wave of emotion, he vows not to eat meat or drink wine for a certain period of time in order to rid himself of his base desires which are almost uncontrollable.

It can happen that after a period of time, this person may realize he may have taken on more than he can handle. He fears that he may not succeed in standing up to this test and may end up breaking his vow. The Torah provides a procedure through which he can be released from his vow. He can either come before three rabbis or before one rabbi who specializes in vows, and they can look for a compelling reason to support his regretting taking his vow. They can then accept the fact that he had known how incredibly difficult it would be for him to keep such a vow, he would never have made it in the first place. Then they may cancel his vow. This is the basic law of vows.

We will now try to understand these concepts at their root. First, we must understand the basic logic of the commandment regarding vows. If a person is able to stand up to the test and overcome his base desires on his own, then why does he need to make a vow in the first place? And, if he is incapable of overcoming his desires, then what good will making a vow do him? On the contrary, he may even end up committing the more grievous sin of not keeping his vow. Second, how is it possible that the Torah permits a certain food to be consumed, yet a person is able to make that item forbidden to himself, through his speech, on the same level as if it had been prohibited explicitly in the Torah? And if there is indeed such a possibility, how can it be that he can subsequently re-permit that forbidden item to himself simply by expressing his regret before the rabbis? Is there such a thing as a prohibition from the Torah that a person can permit to himself simply by asking a rabbi? And finally, why does the parsha which deals with vows appear right after the parsha of Pinchas who displayed jealousy for G-d’s honor over Zimri’s actions. Is there a connection between the two topics?

To answer these questions, we must investigate the source of the mitzva of vows, which our sages referred to as “P’liot Chochma” or the “Wonders of Wisdom.”

If a person is able to stand up to the test and overcome his base desires on his own, then why does he need to make a vow in the first place?

The purpose of vows and oaths is to enable a person to purify himself. This is what our sages taught us: A person is allowed to make an oath in order to encourage himself in his service of G-d. (Note: In order not to fall into a grave sin, it is better to refrain from making vows as much as possible, even when it is permitted. Rabbi Natan recommends only making them if they can be fulfilled immediately.) When a person makes a vow for a holy purpose, the power of the vow causes him to ascend to a place called the “Wonders of Wisdom.” This means that he ascends to the place of the root of the Torah, where the Torah determines what is permissible and what is forbidden, and by the power of his speech, that is, through his vow, he can draw down the power of the Torah in such a way as to forbid himself from something such as eating meat, according to his will. This of course teaches us about the immense power of a man’s speech that he can extend the Torah according to his will.

A vow is an expression of determination and willpower, and through its power, the person making the vow rises to a place called the “Wonders of Wisdom,” which is the root of the power of choice, and from there he receives the power to overcome his base desires. Were it not for the vow, it could be that the person would face the test and would not be able to stand up to it and overcome his challenge. He would just continue with his daily ups and downs—eating and then not eating, drinking and then not drinking—and he would not be able to overcome his cravings. It is precisely the vow that creates a strong commitment in his soul, and through its power he can succeed in fulfilling the mission he has undertaken.

This idea can be seen in the well-known story of Boaz and Ruth. Naomi, the mother-in-law of Ruth the Moabite, advised her daughter-in-law, Ruth, to go down, bathed and dressed in her best clothes, to the threshing floor of her relative Boaz, on the night that he was sowing the barley. Ruth did as her mother-in-law advised and lay down at Boaz’s feet. When Boaz woke up in the middle of the night and noticed her, she requested that he marry her. The test that Boaz stood up in at that moment was extremely difficult, because she was actually permitted to be with him, and yet Boaz refrained from doing so, On the spot he swore: “…as the Lord lives; lie down until morning” (Ruth 3:13). Rashi clarifies: “He swore in order to conquer his evil inclination, for his evil inclination was contending with him: ‘You are single, and she is single; be intimate with her.’ So, he swore that he would wait until after they were married.” From this story we see that an oath strengthens the willpower and balances the power of choice. Without the oath, Boaz feared that his evil inclination would overcome him and cause him to sin.

Were it not for the vow, it could be that the person would face the test and would not be able to stand up to it and overcome his challenge…

However, there is a problem here. If the vow is what gives a person the strength to stand up to the test as we have seen, how can one understand the fact that a rabbi can annul the vow? The whole the reason the person made the vow was because he wanted to be able to stand up to the test, and if the rabbi annuls his vow, then how will he find the strength to stand up to test? And in general, after something has become forbidden by a severe Torah prohibition, how can the rabbi then allow it?

The answer is that the power of every rabbi who annuls an oath stems from the power of Moses, who revealed the secret of the vows and allowed them to regret their action before the rabbi. This is similar to the power of repentance which gets it power from the strength of the regret, and this is even higher than the Torah. We will now connect the things to a wonderful midrash and so we can understand this better.

The Midrash relates that when Moses was in Egypt and saw the suffering of the people of Israel, he felt horrible about all the suffering they were going through. He would approach his brothers who were groaning under the hard work and encourage them. He would help them carry their physical burdens and would try hard to help them in any way he could. The Midrash relates that G-d said to Moses “Because you have given over your heart to recognize their suffering, in the merit of this, the secret of parshat Nedarim (the secret of vows) will be revealed to you.” What is the connection between parshat Nedarim and Moses helping Israel to bear the yoke of exile?

The answer is that Moses saw the bitterness of the exile and put his heart into looking for a way that Nation of Israel could be redeemed. He understood that most of the exile was due to Israel’s iniquities, and that true repentance was the answer. At the same time, he understood that the main obstacle to their true repentance was their contentions against him. This is how the Nation of Israel was being distanced from the path of repentance that he laid out before them. This same scenario occurs in every generation. The tzaddikim continually desire to draw the Nation of Israel closer to the Creator for their own good, but there are always those who distance themselves from the tzaddikim and argue against them. In that generation, it was Datan and Aviram who sparked a controversy against Moses while they were still in Egypt and continued on their evil path in the desert, concerning the manna, the quails, and finally the major controversy with Korach and his congregation when they were swallowed up by the earth.

When G-d saw that Moshe was heartbroken by the depth of their pain and how difficult it would be to bring the people of Israel back in repentance because of the controversy, He revealed the secret of the matter of Nedarim to him. In essence, He showed him the power of the tzaddikim and the upright people in each generation, who are jealous for G-d’s honor in order to return the people to Him. For instance, Pinchas was jealous for G-d’s honor when he killed Zimri. Pinchas was not required to risk his life to break into the tent of Zimri and Cozbi the Midianite in front of the twenty-four thousand people from the tribe of Shimon. They could have murdered him for killing the prince of their tribe, and yet for the G-d’s honor, he did something that he was not obligated to do. Similarly, a person takes an oath when he sees that he is being swept away by the base desires of this world, and he wants to repent and limit himself in a way that he is not required to do. He rouses himself to an inner awakening, and commits himself with a vow, as if he had been required to do this thing in the first place.

We can now understand why these Torah portions are adjacent to each other. As we have seen, both Pinchas’ zealotry and the adjoining parsha regarding vows both deal with the inner sacrifice that comes from a person’s commitment to honor the Creator beyond the letter of the law, even when he is not obligated to do so.

Let us return to the question of how a vow can be annulled, since it has the force of a Torah prohibition. The reason is as follows: The root of repentance is feeling regret for one’s evil deeds, which is in fact higher than the Torah, and one is forgiven his sins, in the same way, by being released from a vow which is only possible through the power of repentance. In order to annul a vow, one must strive to find a reason for the annulment that stems from remorse, because as stated, remorse symbolizes that one’s repentance comes from a very high place. Therefore, even after the vow, it is still possible to ascend through the power of repentance to an even higher place, to a repentance that is above the Torah, and there the vow can be annulled. It is understandable, then, that on Yom Kippur, we start the prayers with “Kol Nidreh” which is the “annulment of vows” in order to draw down the power of forgiveness, which is rooted in the power of regret and repentance, which is higher than the Torah.

To summarize: The annulment of the vow by virtue of the person regretting having taken it means that instead of him having to use the vow to control himself, he now controls himself by virtue of his regret for having taken it in the first place, which is effectively true repentance.

(Based on Likutei Halachot, Birkat HaShachar 5, 90-92)