The Torah places a lot of importance on keeping your word. The reason is that society is based on our word. We have to trust one another in business, in law, in all forms of dealings with each other. Without this society would break down.
Now for a quick Devar Torah.
This week’s parashah begins with what seems like a very mundane legal topic: vows. How do you make a vow, and if necessary, how can it be released? At first glance, it doesn’t seem very inspiring. After all, a vow is only words. It’s not something you can touch or hold.
But the Torah doesn’t see it that way.
The Torah teaches that words matter. Your word has to mean something. If people cannot rely on what others say, society itself begins to break down.
The economist Friedrich Hayek, although he described himself as an agnostic, made an interesting observation. He argued that a free economy works best when it is supported by a religious or moral culture. Why? Because every business transaction ultimately depends on trust. When two people make an agreement, each must believe that the other intends to keep it. Without trust, commerce—and society—cannot function.
That is exactly what the Torah is teaching. Your word should be your bond.
Yesterday we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The closing paragraph contains a remarkable pledge. The signers committed to one another “our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
They knew exactly what they were doing. By signing that document, they were committing treason against Britain. As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
Many of the signers paid a terrible price. Their homes were destroyed. Their property was confiscated. Some were hunted by the British. One signer had two sons captured and brutally mistreated. He was offered a terrible bargain: renounce your signature on the Declaration, and your sons would be released. He refused because he had given his word. His sons later said they never blamed him. They understood that a man’s honor and his word were worth preserving, even at great personal cost.
That is why Jews are often careful to add the words bli neder—”without making a vow”—when we say we intend to do something. I might say, “I’ll visit Martin later today, bli neder,” because unforeseen circumstances may prevent me from going. We don’t want an ordinary intention to become a binding vow.
But bli neder is not an excuse to be careless with our promises. Quite the opposite. The Torah teaches that when we give our word, we should do everything in our power to keep it.
There are still places today, such as New York’s Diamond District, where business deals worth hundreds of thousands of dollars are sometimes sealed with nothing more than a handshake. Why? Because people trust one another. Their word is enough.
The Torah understood thousands of years ago what every healthy society depends upon: when our word can be trusted, communities flourish. When words lose their value, society itself begins to unravel.
Something to think about.
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