Three Oaths

There are three situations where the Torah requires a Divine oath. This was done in order to get to an otherwise unattainable truth.

The first oath or “Shvua,” involved the שומר חינם who agreed to guard an object for no pay. He must swear in the event the object was stolen, that he was not involved in the theft.

In a monetary claim, if only one witness could be found, testifying about the guilt of another individual, the accused party must make an oath, attesting to his innocence.

The third situation is known as מודה במקצת, a partial admission. This involves a loan situation, where the borrower admits owing some money to the lender, but not the amount that the lender claims. If he swears to the lesser amount, that is the amount he must return.

There was a time when people feared G-d and they would not swear falsely in His name. Ironically, in 1952, the Satmar Rebbe wrote a book titled, “Vayoel Moshe,” where he attacked the Zionist movement for violating, “the three oaths.”

The Rebbe was referring to three oaths that were mentioned in Agaddic fashion, at the end of the Tractate Sanhedrin. He claimed that the Zionists violated two of these oaths by attempting to come in mass to Eretz Yisrael, and by establishing an army to overthrow the existing government.

The third oath involved the nations of the world, that they would not persecute us too much. These three oaths had never been put to any kind of test until 1952.

Unfortunately, these oaths, which are easily refutable, continue to be used against Religious Zionism and the need to move to Israel.

Two of the rebuttals to this claim involved the source of the oath, which is not Halachic at all, and is not mentioned in any Halachic source. The other refutation is that the nations of the world violated their side of the oath, as they have clearly persecuted us very much.

It always helps to have the knowledge to be able to answer challenges to our philosophy. There is a huge difference between biblical oaths that apply in money matters, and oaths that are mentioned in the non-Halachic setting of Midrashic literature.

We must cherish and defend the Divine intention of bringing our Jewish brethren home to Israel. We must not allow damaging claims against the establishment of the State of Israel, to hold any credibility. We have enough enemies from the outside, and we must all stand united in our love for our one and only homeland.