Numbers 30,3. “when a man utters a vow, etc.;” In ‎a book called Shaarey Orah, (a kabbalistic volume by ‎Rabbi Joseph ben Avraham Giktalia, earliest printing 17th cent.) ‎the word ‎נדר‎ is broken down into ‎נון דר‎, the letter ‎נ‎ referring to ‎Israel’s faith in G’d, Who in turn supervises our fate in all His ‎Mercy at all times and wherever we are, not abandoning us for ‎even a second. When this letter is found in the Torah written in ‎an inverted form, as in Numbers 10,35 or in Job 38,1, it points to ‎G’d’s supervision of the various parts of His universe. While the ‎letter ‎נ‎ in that verse in Job is not inverted but rather is a final ‎letter in the middle of a word, our sages in Nedarim 8 concluded ‎that a vow applies even to the promise to perform a ‎commandment when it is the result of the person making this ‎vow having experienced proof of G’d’s supervising His universe. ‎On such an occasion the person who has had this religious ‎experience decides to abstain even from matters which-as far as ‎the Torah is concerned- he is within his rights to enjoy.‎ ‎[In order to understand this, it is necessary to ‎remember that the vows discussed in the Torah and the Talmud ‎involve use of the name of G’d, something severely punished ‎when used in vain, as per the third of the 10 Commandments. ‎Although the Talmud in Nedarim uses a verse from psalms ‎as the justification, our author feels that the remarks by the ‎author of the book ‎שערי אורה‎ reinforce what we have learned in ‎the Talmud. Ed.]‎

‎**“in order to impose a prohibition upon his ‎person.”** From the wording of the Torah it seems clear ‎that permission to utter vows or oaths is granted only if the ‎person doing so did so in order to strengthen his ability to obey ‎certain commandments that he was in danger of violating had he ‎not reinforced his determination by means of a vow or oath. An ‎example of such a vow is found in the Book of Ruth 3,13, where ‎Boaz reinforces his undertaking to be Ruth’s redeemer if a closer ‎relative refuses to marry her, by adding the words: ‎חי ה'‏‎, “by the ‎Life of Hashem”. He did so in order to bolster his resistance ‎to the evil urge that might advise him not to enter into such an ‎‎(apparently) inappropriate marriage.‎

Numbers 30:3 “he must not profane his word.” “he ‎must act in accordance with all that he said.” When ‎someone does not profane, dishonor his promises, he assists in ‎perfecting the world we live in with every word he utters. Our ‎verse alludes to this ability of the righteous to govern the ‎universe when instead of ‎שבטים‎, “tribes,” the Torah used the ‎word ‎מטות‎, which has a dual meaning, also meaning “‎להטות‎,” to ‎incline, i.e. to alter an existing status, to effect change in the ‎celestial court, converting decrees based on the attribute of ‎Justice to decrees based on the attribute of Mercy.‎

The words ‎לא יחל דברו ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה‎, may also be the ‎basis of a halachic ruling concerning the care to be taken ‎when uttering a vow, even when one fully intends to keep it. The ‎Talmud Nedarim 10 illustrates this when discussing the line ‎ימיו כצל עובר‎, “man’s days (lifetime) pass as speedily as a passing ‎shadow.” According to the Talmud there, it is forbidden to use ‎the formula ‎לה' קרבן,"‏‎”, “for the Lord a sacrificial offering,” the ‎reason being that one may die a sudden death before completing ‎the word ‎קרבן‎, in which case one would have concluded one’s life ‎by uttering the name of the Lord in vain. The appropriate ‎formula therefore is: ‎קרבן לה'‏‎, “a sacrificial offering for the Lord.” ‎This is what the Midrash alludes to when commenting on ‎the words ‎איש כי ידור נדר לה'‏‎, i.e. when formulating a vow the word ‎לה'‏‎ should be the last word in the formula. [The ‎‎Midrash quoted was inspired by the words “one must carry ‎out what one has promised” being superfluous, as the Torah ‎already warned us not to profane our word (of honour), ‎Ed.]‎ We find a discussion in Nedarim 9 where Rabbi Meir ‎interprets the advice of Solomon in Kohelet 5,4 ‎טוב שלא ‏תדור משתדר ואינו משלם‎, as meaning: “it is better not to make a ‎vow to donate something to the Temple or to charity, than to ‎make such a vow and then fail to honour it.” Rabbi Yehudah, on ‎the other hand, understands the saying differently, i.e. Solomon ‎making a comparison between two less than ideal situations, but ‎that Solomon would agree that the best way to insure that one ‎pays a promise, is to reinforce it by a vow and to keep the vow. It ‎is possible to understand Rabbi Meir as referring to the ‎formulation of the vow, i.e. to make sure, as the Torah does, that ‎the word ‎לה'‏‎ is at the end of the formulation to avoid possibly ‎uttering the name of the Lord in vain, in case one died suddenly. ‎According to the view of the Torah as expressed in our verse, it is ‎best to avoid making promises which involve invoking the name ‎of the Lord.‎

Numbers 31,3. “Moses spoke to the people, saying: ‎‎“let men be picked from among you for a campaign, and let ‎them fall upon Midian to wreak G’d’s vengeance on ‎Midian.” When someone goes out into battle fully ‎trusting in the Lord to help him (believing his cause to be just) he ‎will surely succeed, as he does not engage in battle for his own ‎sake but is concerned exclusively with carrying out G’d’s will. Our ‎verse therefore has to be understood as follows: “let the men to ‎be picked for the army be those who will not engage in the battle ‎for their own sake, i.e. with a view to the booty to be gained, but ‎who do so only in order to be the vehicle for G’d’s vengeance on ‎Midian.”...

‎ויהיו על מדין‎, a very unusual expression. It will help us to ‎understand this wording when we remember that it is a rule that ‎in our imperfect “lower” part of the universe, someone who is ‎morally inferior to an adversary who is superior will not be able to ‎successfully fight against the person on top of him. In the ‎scenario described in the Torah here, the Israelites had recently ‎sinned with the Moabite women, sleeping with them and, ‎according to our tradition, even indulging in idolatrous behaviour ‎prior to doing this. The Midianites were aware of this, and ‎therefore felt that they would have the “upper” hand in such a ‎confrontation. In order therefore to overcome the Midianites in a ‎‎“punitive” expedition such as the Torah decrees, the Israelites ‎had to quickly acquire great merits as a counterweight. This is ‎hinted at by Moses when he says: ‎ויהיו על מדין‎, “so that they can ‎overcome Midian,” i.e. occupy moral high ground.‎

Numbers 31,7. “they took the field against Midian as ‎G’d had commanded Moses” It was quite possible that ‎these soldiers or some of them would entertain egotistical ‎notions, such as the amassing of a great deal of loot, as turned ‎out to be the case. By stressing that the soldiers acted in ‎accordance with what G’d had commanded Moses, the Torah ‎testifies that any thought of booty and other advantages to be ‎gained by this campaign did not surface until after the campaign ‎had ended.