I Give You My Word

This week's Perasha called Mattos, talks about the unusual nature of holiness. The Torah's concept of kedushah goes beyond intuition. Most religions have sacred spaces and objects, but the Torah allows holiness to be created at will — a mere verbal declaration makes an ordinary object hekdesh, essentially transforming it. Even more surprising, ordinary words themselves are holy: breaking a vow is called "desecrating" one's word, implying speech itself carries sanctity. This week YESODI did our first event. We rented out a building with a rooftop space 2 weeks in advance on 45th street, between 5th and 6th, with beautiful views, a highly rated restaurant on the ground floor and luxury amenities throughout the building. The day before the event we were told that we can no longer use the space because NBC is filming a movie there for $50,000 a day. We can talk about legal contracts, but for me it's about the holiness of ones word. Sure, the event was a massive success and we were able to move to another more popular venue. But it got me thinking, my words/credibility/reputation are far more important to me than anything money can offer. Rabbenu Yonah's imagery explains the concept partially: just as a keli (Temple service vessel) sanctifies its contents, a Jew's mouth — used constantly for Torah study, prayer, and oral mitzvos — is itself a ministering vessel that sanctifies the words it produces. But this raises a problem: not everyone's mouth is a perfected vessel, yet every Jew's vows are binding. The answer lies in why the parshah is oddly addressed to "the heads of the tribes." Torah leaders receive the Divine Influence daily (like the beis din whose verbal declarations sanctify Rosh Chodesh and the holidays, in the preceding Torah section) and channel that holiness to the community. Ordinary people's words gain vow-making power only through connection to these leaders — which explains why a Torah scholar can annul vows (like a father or husband, whose authority makes certain vows contingent on them), and why non-Jews, lacking this connection, can consecrate Temple offerings but not create personal vow-prohibitions. The conclusion: our speech draws holiness from the Divine Word via Torah leadership, which should deepen our appreciation of speech and our responsibility to use it wisely. So I pose this question to you, if you gave your word to rent your space to a company (let's leave out legal for now) and were offered 2.5x the price by another group, would you hold true to your original word?