Commentary for Exodus 35:4

זה הדבר אשד צוה ה׳ THIS IS THE THING WHICH THE LORD COMMANDED me, לאמר TO TELL you.

אל כל עדת בני ישראל לאמור, "to the entire community of the children of Israel, to say;" In view of the word לאמור, we are entitled to ask to whom the Israelites were to tell these laws seeing all of them were assembled when they were informed of them?

Me, to tell you. [Rashi knows this] because the verse seems to mean: This is the word which He has commanded to all of Israel to say ( לאמר ) to others. [Yet, it cannot mean this]. Therefore Rashi explains: He commanded me to tell you this in an assembly, as opposed to the other instructions which were not in an assembly.

We may have to look for the answer in something Rabbi Meir is quoted as saying in the Sifri 131 on Deut. 23,22 that it is better not to make vows at all than to fail to honour them, but that best of all is he who does not make any vows at all. Rabbi Yehudah counters by saying that it is best to vow and to honour one's vow. We are taught in Nedarim 9 that Rabbi Meir may have agreed that certain types of vows called Nedavah as opposed to Neder are welcome to G'd even according to the view of Rabbi Meir. The former is the type of vow which is totally within the control of the donor to fulfil so that there exists no danger of defaulting. The Talmud quotes an example in which Hillel brought the animal he meant to sacrifice to the Temple before sanctifying it as a potential sacrifice. There was therefore no danger that the animal would become disqualified and his (Hillel who vowed to offer it as a sacrifice) being unable to fulfil his vow. On the other hand, the opinion is expressed that when Rabbi Yehudah described the person who fulfils his vow as the most commendable person, he referred to just such a situation, i.e. a נודב, someone who makes a vow at a time and in circumstances when he does not risk inability to honour his undertaking. Rabbi Yehudah would agree that someone who makes his vow in the form of a נדר would be better off if he had not made such a vow at all. According to the above, our verse comes to teach us that seeing that the Torah has told us in verse five קחו מאתכם תרומה לה׳ כל נדיב לבו, "take from among you an offering for G'd, everyone who is of a generous heart, etc.," it is clear that the Torah refers to the kind of vow called נדבה. G'd warned the people זה הדבר…לאמור, to be careful to phrase the commitment in such way that they could not become guilty of not honouring it. Our interpretation is compatible with both the viewpoints expressed in Nedarim as to what Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehudah had meant.