Musar su I Cronache 29:1

“When you make a vow to the Lord, your God, do not delay fulfilling it” (Deuteronomy 23:22). Behold there is a punishment for the delay of vows and charity, even though one pays them later. And if someone vows to give charity to the poor, he is obligated to pay it immediately. And if by way of forgetfulness, a delay of the vow happens to him, this too will surely be punished. For since he knows that forgetfulness is found with people, he should have remembered his vows and constantly put them into his heart, so that he would not forget them - like the matter that is stated (Proverbs 20:25), “It is a snare for a man to pledge a sacred gift rashly, and to give thought to his vows only after they have been made.” Therefore, his punishment for his negligence is severe, as it is stated (Ecclesiastes 5:5), “Don’t let your mouth bring your flesh to sin, and don’t plead before the messenger that it was an error, but fear God; else God may be angered by your talk and destroy the work of your hands.” Its explanation is “Don’t let your mouth bring your flesh to sin, etc.” - why do you vow, if you are not careful with your vows and bring guilt upon yourself? And we have already explained this verse in the Gates of Precautions of Caution (no longer extant). And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, have said about the iniquity of [unfulfilled] vows (Shabbat 32b) that children die [as a result], as it is stated (Ecclesiastes 5:5), “and destroy the work of your hands.” The verse is also explained to be about the matter of evil speech, that one is punished for negligence with it - even if he does not intend to disgrace his fellow. (And likewise did our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, say in the Sifrei - and Rashi cites it in his commentary on the Torah concerning Miriam - and this is its language, “And with Miriam, she did not have in mind to to disgrace him [...]” And it concludes in the Sifrei, “But rather for praise, on account of the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying, etc.”) And behold we were commanded not to make vows, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 23:23) “Whereas you incur no guilt if you refrain from vowing.” And our Rabbis expounded from this (Nedarim 77b) that if one does vow, he incurs guilt. For a vow is a stumbling block for the one who vows, lest he profane his word or delay fulfilling it. Rather a righteous man is gracious and gives without his vowing. [It is hence forbidden to vow] except for when he calls out from distress. For then he should make a vow, like the matter that is written (Genesis 28:20), “And Jacob made a vow, saying, etc.” And likewise in the gathering together of the heads of the people - the Tribes of Israel: They should make vows to strengthen weakened hands. (It appears to me that his intention in that which he wrote, “to strengthen weakened hands,” is meaning to say that it energizes the rest of the people whose hands are weakened in the trait of volunteering, since they are not used to it. And through his vowing publicly in front of many people, their hearts are elevated to volunteer as well. And so is it written in I Chronicles 29:1-9, “King David said to the entire assemblage, etc. ‘I have prepared with all of my strength, etc. and who is going to make a freewill offering and devote himself today to the Lord?’ And the officers of the clans made freewill offerings, etc. The people rejoiced over the freewill offerings they made, for with a whole heart they made freewill offerings to the Lord; King David also rejoiced very much.”

Abraham had known for five years, ever since G–d had concluded the ברית בין הבתרים with him, that the land of Canaan was the Holy Land, and that since G–d had promised that land to him and to his descendants it must be a land in which קדושה resides. Basically, what he had come to appreciate was that holiness is not something totally abstract, but that a country which at first glance seems no different from any other country can still be the repository of holiness, sanctity. This is the reason Rabbi Yitzchak in his parable has the wanderer, i.e. Abraham, refer to that town as one that is ablaze. He means that it is lit up by the presence of G–d's spiritual force. Abraham, however, desired to acquire further spiritual insights without success. The reason Abraham failed to make further spiritual progress was that ארץ ישראל is under the immediate, direct control of G–d. Abraham's knowledge on the other hand, was restricted to cosmic forces which act as G–d's agents. They do not lead to the perception of the Essence of G–d, nor to the awareness that there are areas in this universe in which ordinary cosmic forces do not operate.

In G–d's Master Plan the timetable for such developments has been recorded. If the Jewish people proceed irrespective of G–d's timetable, then they are liable for any damage which their sparks cause. If they act in accordance with G–d's timetable, they are not liable for damage inflicted on Esau. When the storekeeper placed his Chanukah lights at the side of the road on Chanukah, he had complied with G–d's timetable for the emission of such "sparks," hence Rabbi Yehudah holds that he is not liable for any damage inflicted on the flax. Jewish history has known periods when some people tried to hasten the arrival of the Messiah. The first time this occurred was when members of the tribe of Ephrayim (misreading G–d's timetable 30 years before the Exodus) rebelled, left Egypt and attacked the Philistines in d,. According to our tradition this resulted in the death of 200,000 of their number. (cf. Chronicles I 7,21. Zavad and his brother Shutelach are assumed to have been the leaders of that ill fated expedition. More about this in Sanhedrin 92). The metaphor of the camel laden with flax passing the "merchant's store" with a light lit before it, is an allusion to Esau passing G–d's Temple endangering it with hazardous material. G–d is the "merchant" in the Midrash. [He is perceived as extending credit to man and recording the amount of credit extended. Man repays by performing the מצות in the Torah. Ed] The store is a metaphor for the ארבע אמות של הלכה, the four cubits of Halachah that G–d claims on earth in our days. According to Berachot 8, this is all that G–d "owns" in our world since the day the Temple was destroyed. The site of these four cubits is where the Temple used to stand, seeing G–d loves the gates of Zion as we know from Psalms 87,2 and Berachot 8a. The Temple has been referred to as בירה, the same word used for the conflagration caused by the fire described in Talmud Baba Kama 62, when the burning flax sets fire to the building of the merchant i.e. G–d's Temple (in an example where the animal was so overloaded that part of the flax crossed the threshold of the store). In that example, the owner of the camel is liable.