Timeless Torah

I comprehend the value of an oath. It obligates us to fulfill the Biblical directive of, “Kechol hayotzay mipiv ya’aseh - all that comes out from his mouth he must do.” The Torah, however, takes this a step - a huge step - further. A person pronounces something verboten, and the object becomes as forbidden and as spiritually dangerous as a Big Mac!
Judaism obviously disagrees with the slogan, “Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.” In the realm of spirituality, words have power, even more than action. But can a human being’s vow truly affect reality, or do we just pretend it does?
Please recall that as early as the creation of man, the Targum (the earliest authentic translation of the Jewish Bible) provides a crucial insight into the essence of man’s character. The phrase, “Man became a living soul,” is translated by him as “a speaking spirit.”
Living as we do, in a world of action, it is hard to believe that man’s humanity is measured in letters. However, if you think about it, illicit relationships, killing, robbery, and a host of other nefarious activities are something we have in common with the animal world. In other words, it does not take a G-dly soul to perform such activities. Speech (by which we mean the ability to convey idea and ideals) however is unique, in that it is produced primarily by our G-dly soul. Therefore any abuse of speech is an abuse of one’s G-dly soul. This is certainly something to think about before opening one’s mouth.
That shows the exceptional importance of speech, but it does not explain how speech itself manipulates reality. To show that, we need only go back one Torah reading to the story of Bilaam concerning whom we say, “For I know that whomever you bless is blessed and whomever you curse is cursed.” This unique gift is not just true for a world-famous sorcerer, but with every human being (albeit, less noticeably).
One of G-d’s complaints against the Generation of the Flood was that they forced Him to put souls into the bodies of children that were born from forbidden relationships. If He didn’t, G-d said, free-will would suffer. Likewise, when we speak in an unkosher way, we are forcing the Breath of G-d (from whence our souls derived) to be party to our own abuse. This is the power of an oath. It’s a commingling between two partners, human speech and Divine breath, to establish new realities.
An amazing message is contained in this idea. The laws of the Torah are more than a list of do’s and don’ts. They are G-d’s blueprint for creation, defining the reality we inhabit. The laws of reciting Kiddush, for example, are not simply a series of instructions on how to drink wine; they create a new object whose very substance is saturated with a heightened degree of sanctity. Now we learn it is not just the Torah that possesses this authority. We too have the ability to define the very nature of our environment. The laws of oaths and vows grant this authority to ordinary man. These laws dictate that a person’s words have the power not only to obligate him to perform certain actions (as when a person enters into a business contract); they have the power to imbue the avowed or disavowed object with new-found holiness.
This explains the Bible’s use of the term “peleh-wonder,” in reference to the power of an oath. That Torah should have the power to create reality is only natural: the Torah is, after all, the revealed wisdom of the Designer of all reality. But that a human being should, simply by uttering a few words, determine the degree of G-d’s closeness to a part of His creation is indeed an amazing and wondrous thing.
It is well known, the Midrash says, “Two things preceded G-d’s creation of the world: Torah and Israel. But between these two, which preceded which? In other words, which - Torah or Israel - is more deeply rooted within the Divine consciousness?” As one Rabbi put it, does Israel exist so that the Torah could be implemented, or does the Torah exist to serve the Jew in the fulfillment of his mission? The Midrash’s conclusion is that the concept of Israel is primary and precedes even Torah.
Perhaps this underscores the validity and potency of a vow by mortal man. Torah might be the wisdom of G-d, but the Jew is the wonder of G-d. For can there be any greater wonder than the fact that His breath is captured in our every utterance? Therefore, do not only think before you speak, be amazed.