You must revere ืืืื: only your God shall you worship, to [God] shall you hold fast, and by Godโs name shall you swear.
And he said, โSwear to me.โ And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.
ยง Rabbi Yosei HaGelili also lists one who curses another using the name of God as liable to be flogged. The Gemara asks: From where do we derive this? Rabbi Elazar says that Rabbi Oshaya says: The verse states: โIf you will not observe to perform all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your Godโ (Deuteronomy 28:58). This refers to one who curses using the name of God. And it is written immediately thereafter: โThen the Lord will make your plagues wondrous [vehifla]โ (Deuteronomy 28:59). With regard to this term haflaโa, I do not know what its meaning is. When it says: โAnd the judge shall cause him to lie down [vehippilo] and to be beaten before himโ (Deuteronomy 25:2), you must say that the term haflaโa is referring to lashes.
The Gemara asks: Why not say that even one who utters a true oath is flogged, as this too could be considered exhibiting insufficient fear of Godโs name? The Gemara answers: It is written explicitly that a bailee may take an oath in court, as the verse states: โThe oath of the Lord shall be between them both, to see whether he has not damaged his neighborโs goodsโ (Exodus 22:10).
It is permitted to approach [a sage] to have an oath released as we explained and there is no fault [in doing so]. [Indeed,] one who has hesitations about the matter is [showing] traces of heresy. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to show care in this regard. One should not respond [to a request] to release [an oath] unless it involves a matter concerning a mitzvah or a great need. It is of great benefit for a person never to take an oath at all.If, however, one transgressed and took an oath, he should endure great difficulty and keep his oath, as [Psalms 15:4-5] states: "One who takes an oath to his own detriment and does not nullify it..., he who acts in this manner will never falter."
Blessed be God who grants assistance.
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The Gemara raises a difficulty: But if it is presumed that the employer forgot to pay, let him give the wages to the worker without the worker taking an oath.
That is that He commanded us to swear by His name when it is necessary to ratify something or to deny it. For there is aggrandizement, glory and exhalation through this. And that is His, may He be blessed, saying, "and by His name shall you swear" (Deuteronomy 10:20). And in the explanation, they said, "The Torah said, 'Swear,' and the Torah said, 'Do not swear' - meaning to say, just like it prohibits an oath for which there is no need, and it is a negative commandment; so too is there a commandment [to make] an oath when it is needed, and it is a positive commandment. And as a result, it is not permitted to swear by any of all the creatures, such as the angels or the stars, except by way of nullifying what is attached. This is like one who swears by the sun, but he means to say, the Master of the sun. And in this way, our nation swears by the name of our teacher, Moshe - how glorious is his name - as if the one swearing was swearing by the Master or by the One who sent him. But so long as the one who swears is not intending this, but is swearing by one of the creatures, to believe in it - that it has intrinsic truth, to the point that he swears by it - he has already transgressed and associated something else with the name of the Heavens. About this comes the explanation (Sukkah 45b), "Anyone who associates the name of the Heavens with something else is uprooted from the world." And this is matter that the verse, "and by His name shall you swear," intended - meaning that only about Him should you believe that there is truth by which it is appropriate to swear. And they already said at the beginning of Temurah (Temurah 3b), "From where [do we know] that we may swear to perform the commandments? As it is written, 'and by His name shall you swear.'" (See Parashat Ekev; Mishneh Torah, Oaths 11.)
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ืืช ืืืื ืืืืืื ืชืืจื THOU SHALT FEAR THE LORD THY GOD, and serve Him and cleave to Him; and after you possess all these qualities, then you may swear by His Name (cf. Rashi on 6:13 and Note thereon).
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Our masters have said: Even in truth one cannot swear. Why? Thus have our masters taught (in Dem. 2:3): LET NOT SOMEONE FROM ISRAEL BE UNRESTRAINED IN VOWSOR IN JESTING, so as not to lead one's companion astray with an oath by uttering when there is no < occasion for> an oath. There is a story about a royal mountain where there were two thousand towns, and all of them were destroyed because of a truthful oath. Now if one who swears in truth has this happen, how much the more so in the case of one who swears to a lie? How did they act? One would utter an oath to his companion that he was going to such and such a place to eat and drink. Then they would go and act to fulfill their oath. It is therefore stated (in Lev. 5:1): IF A SOUL SINS >โฆ.
ยง The mishna taught that the court refrained from administering an oath to her. The Gemara asks: What is the reason that they refrained from administering oaths to widows? If we say that it is because of the statement of Rav Kahana, as Rav Kahana says, and some say that it was Rav Yehuda who says that Rav says: There was an incident involving a person during years of famine who deposited a gold dinar with a widow, and she placed the gold dinar in a jug of flour and unwittingly baked it in a loaf of bread along with the flour, and she gave the bread as charity to a poor man.
It is permitted to approach [a sage] to have an oath released as we explained and there is no fault [in doing so]. [Indeed,] one who has hesitations about the matter is [showing] traces of heresy. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to show care in this regard. One should not respond [to a request] to release [an oath] unless it involves a matter concerning a mitzvah or a great need. It is of great benefit for a person never to take an oath at all.If, however, one transgressed and took an oath, he should endure great difficulty and keep his oath, as [Psalms 15:4-5] states: "One who takes an oath to his own detriment and does not nullify it..., he who acts in this manner will never falter."
Blessed be God who grants assistance.