The Promise of Karaism | Matos 5784
When I was in elementary school, the accepted way to ensure your promises were not binding was saying “I fromise” instead of “I promise.” This slight difference in pronunciation was deemed sufficient enough to make any promise no longer enforceable. “I said I fromise,” we would argue—a brilliant legal loophole within elementary school contracts.
If only it were so simple.
Parshas Matos introduces the actual concept of halachic promises—known as nedarim.
It is a strange concept to introduce at this moment in Jewish history. The Jewish People are on the precipice of entering the land of Israel. Moshe gathers all of the Jewish leaders, presumably to discuss the process of conquering the land and how it will be distributed. But first, Moshe introduces the concept of nedarim, Jewish oaths. Why now? Why is this so important before entering Israel that Moshe gathers all of the tribal heads of the Jewish People?
Interestingly, the Torah only explicitly describes how a husband can nullify the oath of a spouse. The nullification of regular nedarim is not expressly described in the Torah. In fact, the mishnah describes the concept of the annulment of nedarim as “hovering in the air without anything to support them” (הֶיתֵּר נְדָרִים — פּוֹרְחִין בָּאֲוִיר וְאֵין לָהֶם עַל מָה שֶׁיִּסָּמֵכוּ). Why, of all of the laws of the Torah, are these the ones that have no allusion in the written Torah? And it is not for lack of trying. The Talmud suggests several approaches to try and find some sort of allusion to the concept of annulling vows in the Torah, but each is ultimately rejected. It seems as if the Talmud doesn’t want to find an allusion to hataras nedarim (the nullification of vows). Why is this the one area of Torah law without a clear allusion in the written Torah?
To better understand the uniqueness of the laws of the nullification of vows, let’s explore the alternative Jewish movement known as Karaism and its curious objections to rabbinic Judaism, most notably the laws of vows.
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