Matos-Masei: 5784 - "And Hashem will forgive her." But isn't it written that Hashem does not attribute an evil thought to an action? Presented by Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld, at the conclusion of the class of Rabbi Betzalel Mizrachi in Nachlah.…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please.

00:01 Speaker 2 In the weekly parsha, we have the section about vows. The Torah says that when a woman makes a vow—“If a woman makes a vow to Hashem”—and then breaks it, she transgresses a prohibition. But “if her husband annuls them on the day he hears of them”—and a husband can annul her vows whether she is present or not—the Torah says: “Whatever she uttered, whether her vows or the obligations she imposed on herself, shall not stand. Her husband has annulled them, and Hashem will forgive her.” But if her husband annulled the vow, she didn’t transgress. So why does she need Hashem’s forgiveness? The Gemara in Tractate Nazir says: The Sages taught, “Her husband has annulled them, and Hashem will forgive her.” What case is the verse speaking about? Why does she need forgiveness if her husband annulled the vow? The Gemara says it is speaking about a woman whose husband annulled her vow without her knowledge. She deliberately acted against the vow: she drank wine and became impure through contact with a dead body. She didn’t know that her husband had annulled it, and so the verse says Hashem will forgive her. The Gemara says there that when Rabbi Akiva reached this verse, he would weep and say: If someone intended to eat pork but ended up eating lamb—he thought he was eating pork, but in fact ate something kosher—and still needs forgiveness, how much more so someone who intended to eat pork and actually ate pork. Surely he needs forgiveness from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is what the Gemara says. But a question arises: This woman’s husband annulled her vow, so why does she need forgiveness? In practice, she committed no transgression. And we have a principle: Hakadosh Boruch Hu joins a good thought to an action, but a

02:27 Speaker 2 bad thought, Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not join to an action. True, she had the thought—she didn’t know her husband had annulled the vow—but Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not join a bad thought to an action. So why does she need forgiveness? Why does the Torah say, “Hashem will forgive her”? Seemingly, she doesn’t need forgiveness, since Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not join that thought to an action. But there is a very beautiful and interesting explanation here. When we say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not join a bad thought to an action, what is the reason? A person thinks about committing a transgression. We say that it was only a thought; in practice, he didn’t do it. Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not join it to an action. Why? Because when a Jew has a bad thought, chances are that once he catches himself and thinks, “Wait, I’m about to commit a transgression,” he won’t do it after all. Most likely, the thought won’t become an action. Every Jew wants to do what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants, and when he catches himself and asks, “Wait, what am I about to do?” then even if he had thought of committing a transgression, chances are he won’t actually do it. That is why we say Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not join a bad thought to an action: in most cases, it won’t become an action anyway. The Jew will have a change of heart, because every Jew wants to do what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants. But in this case, the woman made a Nazirite vow and deliberately acted against it: she drank wine and made herself impure. She actually went ahead and did those things. The only thing is that she didn’t know her husband had already annulled the vow. As far as she was concerned, she had gone beyond

04:16 Speaker 2 thinking about it and had acted on it too. So there is reason to say that here Hakadosh Boruch Hu does join the thought to the action, because as far as she was concerned, she had done the deed. That is why she needs forgiveness. In this case, yes, because she didn’t know: as far as she was concerned, she had both thought about it and done it. That is why the verse says, “Hashem will forgive her”—she needs forgiveness. There is another explanation of the saying that Hakadosh Boruch Hu joins a good thought to an action. It doesn’t say that it is considered as though the person performed the action; it says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu joins the thought to the action. When a Jew has a good thought about doing a mitzvah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu joins it to an action. What does that mean? Hakadosh Boruch Hu sees to it that the mitzvah actually gets done. When a Jew has a good thought about doing a mitzvah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu sees to it that it happens in practice.

05:10 Speaker 3 In that case.

05:12 Speaker 2 In that case. In that case, I have a good thought about doing a mitzvah. So I say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will see to it that it happens in practice too. But a bad thought, Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not join to an action. There is no such Divine assistance to see that it happens. May we, with Hashem’s help, during these Three Weeks, soon merit the true and complete Geulah.

05:31 Speaker 3 Amen, amen.