Q&A: An Oath on Condition — Practical Jewish Law
An Oath on Condition — Practical Jewish Law
Question
With God’s help,
Hello Rabbi,
Some time ago, may the Merciful One protect us, I had two relatives who happened, at that same time, to be in the hospital in serious condition.
And as far as I remember, before I went to sleep I said something along these lines:
Master of the Universe, if both of them remain alive and healthy and whole, then I swear to begin dating for marriage after Passover.
(The next morning I heard that one of them had passed away that night, of blessed memory, and the funeral took place. The second is healthier, thank God.)
It was also exactly during the Torah portion of Vayetze (where Jacob made a vow), so I assume the wording was similar in style, only as an oath, but I really don’t remember well enough what exactly I said.
The question is whether this needs to be fulfilled. Until today I haven’t been sure, because I thought it was void.
Thank you very much!
Answer
This oath was indeed said without using God’s name, but in the Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De’ah 237:1, it is explained that even this takes effect under the law of abbreviated formulations of vows and oaths (only the obligation of bringing a sacrifice does not apply here).
This is an “if” condition, not an “on condition that,” meaning a condition whose effect begins from the time the condition is fulfilled and not retroactively. For such a condition, the formal rules of conditions are required, as I explained on the site.
The wording you wrote here is not doubled, but the condition does precede the action. Now, in a case where your intent is clear even without doubling the condition, Tosafot in Kiddushin 49 wrote that there is no need to double the condition (because it is considered something in his heart and in every person’s heart). However, here we are dealing with a commandment-related act (preparation for a commandment), to begin dating for marriage, and therefore it is difficult to say that it is obvious you meant to make it conditional and not to do it if the condition would not be fulfilled.
I will only note that in Genesis chapter 28 verse 20 there is Jacob our forefather’s vow, which also is not doubled (although one could push this aside and say that the Torah did not describe the full wording, only the general substance, though that does not seem so from the wording of the verse). However, the Da’at Zekenim from the Tosafists wrote there that this is not the language of a condition.
Bottom line, in my opinion it is difficult to be lenient here. Beyond that, there is a commandment involved here, and therefore you should do this even regardless of the oath.