DAILY MITZVAH (Maimonides): Shabbat, December 17, 2005

B"H

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Due to Shabbat observance, the Shabbat edition of Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides) is sent on Friday. Shabbat Shalom!
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Kislev 16, 5766 * December 17, 2005

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D A I L Y M I T Z V A H (M A I M O N I D E S )
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Today's Mitzvot (Day 106 of 339):

Negative Mitzvah 62
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Negative Mitzvah 62: We are prohibited from taking vain oaths

-Exodus 20:7 "You shall not take the name of the L-rd, your
G-d in vain"

This Negative Mitzvah teaches not to make a "Shevuat Shav",
which means a "vain promise."

A Shevuat Shav can be one of three different types of promises:

1) To swear that something is not what it really is.

For instance: When Sarah got her new bicycle she told her
friends that it cost $10,000. If Sarah would have sworn that
her bicycle costs $10,000, when it did not - this would have
been a Shevuat Shav.

2) To swear that something exists, when such a thing is
impossible.

For instance: After Danny went to the zoo with his parents,
he told his friends that in the zoo he saw an elephant with
wings and the elephant flew through the air. If Danny would
have sworn that he had seen such an elephant, which is
impossible, he would have made a Shevuat Shav.

3) To swear about something which is plainly obvious.

For instance: To swear that a cow is a cow.

4) To swear that you will not keep one of the Mitzvot in the
Torah.

For instance: to swear that you will not say Shema today is
considered a Shevuat Shav.

All these promises are part of the prohibition of Shevuat Shav,
and neither they, nor anything like them, should be made - even
if they are made in a joking manner!

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