NUM361 [W]e cannot tell in advance how humans will react. How then can we create an orderly society without taking away people's freedom? The answer is the act of promising. When I promise to do something, I am freely placing myself under an obligation to do something in the future. If I am the kind of person who is known to keep his word, I have removed one element of unpredictability from the human world. You can rely on me, since I have given my word. When I promise, I voluntarily bind myself. It is this ability of humans to voluntarily commit themselves to do or refrain from doing certain ask that generates order in the relations between human beings without the use of coercive force. [Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), 243-4)]. "When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said" [this verse]. It is no accident that this, the second verse of Parashat Matot, is stated shortly before the Israelites approach the Promised Land. The institution of promising, of which vows and oaths to God are a supreme example, is essential to the existence of a free society. Freedom depends on people keeping their word. ... If trust breaks down, social relationships break down. Society will then depend on law enforcement agencies or some other use of force. When force is widely used, society is no longer free. The only way free human beings can form collaborative and cooperative relationships without recourse to force is by the use of verbal undertakings honored by those who make them. Freedom needs trust. Trust needs people to keep their word, and keeping your word means treating words as holy, vows and oaths as sacrosanct. Only under very special and precisely formulated circumstances can you be released from your undertakings. That is why, as the Israelites approached the Holy Land where they were to create a free society, they had to be reminded of the sacred character of vows and oaths. The temptation to break your word when it is to your advantage to do so can sometimes be overwhelming. That is why belief in God -- a God who oversees all we think, say, and do and who holds us accountable to our commitments--is so fundamental. Although it sounds strange to us now, the father of toleration and liberalism, John Locke, held that citizenship should not be extended to atheists because not believing in God, they should not be trusted to honor their word. (John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689). So the appearance of laws about vows and oaths at the end of the book of Numbers, as the Israelites are approaching the land, is no accident, and the moral is still relevant today. A free society depends on trust. Trust depends on keeping your word. That is how humans imitate God -- by using language to create. Words create moral obligations, and moral obligations, undertaken responsibly and honored faithfully, create the possibility of a free society.

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NUM362 See [[NUM317]] Numbers 25:12 covenant AMJV 274-5

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NUM363 One who causes another to sin is held responsible for the punishment that person will receive. God told Moshe to avenge the harm caused the Children of Israel by the Midianites. Twenty-four thousand Israelites died in a plague that was sent as retribution for the sin brought upon them by the Midianites. From here we see that one who causes another person to sin is held responsible for the punishment that person will receive. (Ohr Yohail, vol. 3, p. 188).

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NUM364 We must be grateful to someone who has benefited us, even if he did not do so intentionally. When the Jewish people went to fight the Midianites, Moshe sent others but did not go himself. In verses one and two we read that God commanded Moshe to avenge the crime of the Midianites; why then did Moshe delegate this task to others? The Midrash explains that this was because Moses had lived in their midst (from the time he fled from Egypt until his return to Egypt after God appeared to him in the burning bush) and had an obligation to be grateful to them. (Daas Zkainim). During Moshe's stay, the Midianites did not go out of their way to aid Moshe, and now God decreed that they were to be punished. Nevertheless, Moshe did not join his army in battle against the Midianites out of gratitude. If Moshe was grateful even to an unintending benefactor, all the more so must we be grateful to someone who is going out of his way to help us. (Ohr Yohail, vol. 2, p. 221). If someone taught you Torah or had a beneficial influence on you, you should be extremely grateful to him. Failure to honor him properly shows a gross lack of gratitude. (Pele Yoatz, section kofuy tova). The Baal Haturim comments that Moshe did not send the princes of the twelve tribes to fight against Midian to spare the tribe of Shimon embarrassment since their prince, Zimri, had been killed. In time of war good leadership is essential. The princes would have contributed much to the war effort if they would have been present during the battle against Midian. But Moshe was willing to forgo the advantages of their assistance to save people from embarrassment. Zimri, the former Prince of the tribe of Shimon died dishonorably. He publicly committed an immoral act and Pinchos killed him. If the princes of the other twelve tribes would. have been called to lead the one thousand men from the respective tribes, the leader of the tribe of Shimon would have been conspicuously absent. The pain of embarrassment is so great that even in time of war we must be careful not to cause someone shame. (Kol Tzofayich, p. 325).

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NUM365 See [[EXOD623]] Exodus 22:1 death DORFFRAG 167-8

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NUM366 See [[NUM288]] Numbers 22:32 beaten TELVOL2 306-7

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NUM367 Do not grow angry even when reprimanding someone for a wrongdoing. The Talmud (Psochim 66b) states that Moshe was punished for his anger at the officers for having allowed the Midianite women to remain alive. Basing itself on this verse, the Talmud says that if a wise person becomes angry, he will forget his knowledge. In his anger, Moshe forgot the laws dealing with the Midianite vessels. Consequently, Eliezer, instead of Moshe, taught these laws to the soldiers (verse 21). Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv pointed out that Moshe's rebuke was correct. The soldiers had erred and deserved censure. Moshe's only wrong was his emotion of anger. Even when a person should rebuke someone, he must remain calm and be careful not to grow angry. (Chochmah Umussar, vol. 1, p. 161).

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NUM368 Rabbi Eliezer said: … do not be easily moved to anger; Pirkei Avot, Perek II, mishnah 15. The wise King Solomon says, "Anger rests in the lap of fools" (Ecclesiastes 7:9). The lap is not a secure resting place. As soon as a sitting person rises, his lap is no more, and anything that was on it falls off. This is the position of anger in the personality of the fool. It is ready to "pop" at a moment's notice. At the slightest provocation his reserve vanishes, and his anger is released to explode. Said Resh Lakish: "Any man who becomes angry--if he is wise, his wisdom leaves him; if he is a prophet, his prophecy departs from him." As proof he sites the verse, "Moses was angry with the officers of the army…" [this verse]. Shortly afterward, he notes, Elazar the cohen had to say "to the men of war who had gone to battle: This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses" (Numbers 31:21). We can only conclude, says Resh Lakish, that Moses' knowledge and wisdom had temporarily left him. Again, we read that Elisha exclaimed angrily to Jehoshaphat: "Were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you" ( II Kings 3:14). But he had to add immediately, "Now bring me a minstrel"; and we read, "when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him" ( II Kings 3:15). He needed the cheer of music to restore the power of prophecy that anger had driven from him (T.B. Pesahim 66b). Is therefore best to be, as we describe our Creator in the musaf prayers of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, "difficult to provoke and easy to pacify."

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NUM369 See [[LEV95]] Leviticus 10:16 angry TZADIK 241-3

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NUM370 See [[NUM295]] Numbers 24:5 fair TELVOL2 265

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