"If a man takes a vow to HaShem or swears an oath to prohibit a prohibition upon himself, he shall not profane his word; according to whatever comes from his mouth shall he do."


Farther on, the Torah warns us to be careful of our speech. One should not speak without intent of fulfilling his

One should not speak without intent of fulfilling his words.

words: "When you make a vow to G-d, you shall not delay repaying it; for the Eternal your G-d will surely require it of you; and it would be a sin to you. That which proceeds from your lips you shall observe and do; according as your vow even an offering to the Eternal your G-d, which you has promised with your mouth."


King Solomon echoed this theme in the book of Ecclesiastes when he wrote: "Be not rash with your mouth and let not your heart be hasty to utter a word before G-d, for G-d is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. When you make a vow to G-d do not delay paying it, for He has no liking for fools - what you vow, pay. Better that you do not vow at all, then you vow and not pay. Why should G-d be angered by your speech and destroy the work of your hands?"


So powerful is the strength of the voice that the Talmud in many places discusses, page after page, the cases of people who make fraudulent promises which they do not fulfill. The Talmud writes that someone who makes a promise to purchase something, having fulfilled the proper acts of acquisition, but reneges on the deal, is subject to the following curse:"G-d, Who punished the generation of the flood, will punish anyone who does not stand by his word."


It is for this reason that on Yom Kippur, the most sacred of days, we start off the day begging HaShem to forgive us for our false vows; things we said, intending to do and never ended up doing. All of us have made statements pledging money or what-not, but never carrying it out. And so, even before we can start the Yom Kippur service, we first and foremost must ask HaShem to remove our false vows.


HaShem, too, has made vows, which in His case He has always kept: I will make you most exceedingly fruitful and make nations of you, and kings shall descend from you. I will ratify My covenant between Me and you and between your offspring after you throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant to be a G-d to you and your offspring after you, and I will give to you and your offspring after you the Land of your sojourns - the whole of the land of Cana'an - as an everlasting possession, and I shall be a G-d to you.


Later, by way of His prophets, He added: Thus said the L-rd HaShem, behold, I am taking the Children of Israel from among the nations to which they have gone. I will gather them from all around and I will bring them to their

What of our vows? Have we done all we can to fulfill our prayers?

soil, I will make them into one nation in the Land.


So, we see that after some 2,000 years, HaShem has fulfilled his vow concerning the Land of Israel and returning the Jewish people back to its Land - as He said He would. But what of our vows? Have we done all we can to fulfill our prayers?


Three times a day, we beseech the Almighty to bring us back to our homeland, and yet, in spite of our prayers, we do not return. We prefer the comfort of the exiles to fulfilling our false lip service. After each meal we say: "Let us return upright to our homeland." Still, the only "upright" we plan on doing is at the gym. At the Passover Seder, we proclaim, "Next year in Jerusalem," while we have no intention of ever leaving the fleshpots of the goldeneh medineh. For how long will we continue to proclaim falsehoods before the Almighty?


Let this parsha be a wakeup call for all of us. Say what you mean and fulfill what you say, so as not to bring the wrath of HaShem down on you.