Taamei Hamitzvos - Making and Annulling Vows
by Rabbi Shmuel Kraines
“Study improves the quality of the act and completes it, and a mitzvah is more beautiful when it emerges from someone who understands its significance.” (Meiri, Bava Kama 17a)
Mitzvah #406-407; Bamidbar ch. 30:2-17
Just as Hashem sanctified Shabbos out of the seven days of the week, He sanctified the mouth out of the head’s seven openings (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and one mouth). He granted it to man only so that he would be able to speak His praise, which is one of the primary reasons for Creation (Chidah to Bereishis 2:1). The mouth can create a new existence with mere words; indeed, Hashem created the entire universe with mere words. Therefore, a vow that emerges from the mouth has great significance, and treating it lightly has grave consequences and is also inherently sacrilegious (Chinuch §30 and Metzudas David §214).
Even so, we find that our ancestors resorted to making vows at times of distress. When Yaakov fled from Eisav, he vowed that if Hashem would provide for him and return him to his land in peace, he would tithe all that he would receive and serve Him on the altar that he then erected (Bereishis 28:22). Apparently, if he would have just intended to do so or said that he would try to do so, he may not have merited the Divine assistance that he did. Similarly, when the Jewish people went out to war against the Amalekites in Parashas Chukas (21:1), they vowed to consecrate any cities they would conquer to Hashem. We also find examples of our ancestors resorting to making a vow to compel them to increase their service of Hashem (see Tehillim 119:106).
However, it is only the practice of great people to make vows. Only they know when it is necessary and that they will succeed in keeping it. Accordingly, whenever a person makes a vow, the Heavenly Court examines his accounts to see if he is as righteous as he makes himself out to be, and this can bring judgment upon him (Nedarim 22a, cited in Otzar HaMidrashim). The Sages compare making a vow with good intentions to building a bamah altar, which is similarly a forbidden act with good intentions (Ran to ibid.). Therefore, a person should avoid making vows altogether, as the wise King Shlomo advised: Better not make a vow than to make a vow and not pay (Koheles 5:4). Whenever a person says that he will give charity or perform a mitzvah, it is advisable to say bli neder (without a vow). So too, when a person does a good deed with the intention of adopting it as a custom, or if he does it three times even without such an intention, he should say bli neder.
If a woman vows in a matter that concerns her husband, he has the right to undo it on the day that he hears about it. This is because the wife certainly did not intend to make a vow to which her husband would object (Rabbeinu Bechaye) and because a husband and wife are like one entity (Rabbeinu Menachem HaBavli). A father has a similar right concerning the vows of a minor daughter, who likewise would not have intended to make a vow had she known that her father would object.
Under certain conditions, a group of three men can annul a person’s vow on the grounds that he did not make the vow knowing that circumstances would change and he would not be able to keep it, or on similar grounds. The Torah does not mention this possibility explicitly so that people will not take vows lightly.
