Daily Talk
A completely new sefer begins today. The Rambam moves from the sanctity of the body to the sanctity of speech, from what enters the mouth to what exits it. In the opening chapters of Hilchot Shevuot, he reveals that an oath spoken in God's name creates an obligation as real and as binding as any physical act -- that language, in the Torah's understanding, has the power to reshape the fabric of what is permitted and what is forbidden.
When Words Bind Reality
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About This Talk
Shevuot chapters 1 through 3 open Sefer Haflaah, the Book of Utterances, with the foundational laws of oaths. Chapter 1 establishes the four categories of oaths: sh'vuat bitui (assertory oaths about past or future), sh'vuat shav (vain oaths that are inherently empty), sh'vuat hapikadon (oaths denying a financial obligation), and sh'vuat ha'edut (oaths denying knowledge of testimony). Chapter 2 addresses oaths taken in God's name, the penalties for violation, and the procedures by which courts administer oaths. Chapter 3 elaborates the detailed mechanics of assertory oaths -- what subjects may be bound by oath, how an oath is expressed, and the distinction between oaths about the future and oaths about the past.