When speech is cheap – Mattot
People who make promises are warned at the beginning of the sidra, “If a person makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath imposing an obligation on himself, he shall not make his word void” (Num. 30:3). In Hebrew “he shall not make his word void” is lo yachel d’varo.
Promises to God, and to other people, have to be honoured. This is part of the philosophy behind the solemn Kol Nidre declaration on Yom Kippur.
There is another way of looking at the word yachel. Rabbi Chaim Vital says the word may be linked to the halachic term chullin, “profane”. Perhaps what he is suggesting is that words must always be treated with sanctity and reverence. Language should not be cheapened or besmirched.
The great Divine gift which makes humans superior to the rest of creation is the ability to speak. When the Torah describes the creation of Adam, it says, “And man became a living being”; the Aramaic Targum, however, renders the Hebrew, “And man became a speaking being”. A person who profanes the capacity for speech is unworthy of the creation.
