Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Gittin Daf 39

One who makes his slave Hekdesh, the slave works and is fed from the earnings, for only his value was made Hekdesh. This is like R. Meir, who holds that one does not say empty words (to Hekdesh. Surely he intended to give something to Hekdesh; therefore, when a person's statement seems to be nonsensical, we "read into" his words a more plausible explanation.) "Ein adam motzi devarav l'evatalah." Rebbi Meir is of the opinion that a person does not utter words for no purpose. Rebbi Meir only refers to a case of our word to G-d, however we should try to live up to Rebbi Meir's standard of not speaking empty words to anyone. When we give our word it should mean something.

1 comment:

Mark Kerzner said...

Or maybe "al tithased harbe?"