If a man makes a vow to HASHEM or makes an oath to prohibit himself, he shall not profane his word; according to whatever came out of his mouth, he shall do. (Bamidbar 30:3)

Moshe wrote their goings forth to their journeys at the bidding of HASHEM, and these were their journeys to their goings forth. (Bamidbar 33:2)

Here we have two distinct Parshios this week, dedicated to completely different themes. One begins with the notion of making vows and how with our mouths we can obligate and compel ourselves with the force of Torah law. The other is focused on reviewing the many journeys of the Jewish People during their 40-year sojourn in the desert. Is there a connection between these points?

It’s no secret, and yet it remains a secret, that HASHEM created the world with His speech. Just don’t ask me how! So, it is stated in Tehillim, “By the word of HASHEM, the heavens were made, and with the breath of His mouth, all their hosts.” (Tehillim 33:6) We declare multiple times daily in the Brocho prior to ingesting water, coffee, or a candy, “Shehakol Niheyeh B’Dbvaro” that everything came about through HASHEM’s speech. This is already common parlance by all of us. That is how powerful the word of HASHEM is. Then, very early in the creation, HASHEM completed man by breathing a Divine breath into his nostrils and in doing so, the Targum explains, man became a speaking being. We too are now empowered with powerful speech. That’s the good news and that’s the bad news. Our words, like fire, can be either enormously constructive or profoundly destructive. Allow me to share a few personal examples of the power of speech.

I would always share with my staff the following message, a memory from my younger years. I don’t think I can recall anything that any other adult or fellow student said to me in all the years that I attended elementary school. That’s a long stretch of time and an impressionable time in life. I went to school every day. I lined up at the water fountain, raised my hand, and even did homework. I had lots of friends and we had tons of fun playing games.

Nothing stands out in my mind clearly like these four words that changed my life. I was in third grade. Miss Carson, that was her name, I can remember how she looked, how her hair was styled, and how she stood, with a book in her hands when she called out across the room one day, “Lam is a leader!” Nobody ever told me anything about me before. It landed on me and entered my heart and has stayed there as a permanent fixture on the landscape of my psyche and self-image. It has guided me through my life like no other statement. Looking back, I realize she may only have said it because I was making trouble and she wanted to curb my misapplied leadership skills, but that makes no difference. She gave me a positive spin and I accepted it.

Year later, when I was the captain of the high school baseball team, Coach Dom Cecere called out in front of the entire team that “Lam is task oriented! You give him a job, and he gets it done!” Now that may be a contradiction to being a leader in some way, but again I took it with pride, as a compliment and something to always live up to.

I was on a panel discussion at a Shabbaton and we were asked to respond to the question, “Who made the biggest difference in your life and how?” When it was my turn, I had to honestly say that the person that made the biggest difference in my life was my beloved grandmother, my mother’s mother. She was a remarkable woman that lit up the room with genuine love and joy. She had one child, my mother. My mother was told by doctors that she would never have children. She had four and here I am. My grandmother gazed at us with a look that declared, “You are a miracle!” and we were. She constantly showered us and massaged our hearts with loving phrases like, “Mein Zeisa Neshama” – “My sweet soul”. Believe me, I didn’t feel like and did not always behave like a Zisa Neshama but after many years of drinking that sweet medicine, and so many years after her departure from this world, those looks and these words have given me whatever positive drive and optimism my life possesses.

So, what is the connection between the power of words and reviewing the journey of one’s lifetime? One word: “plenty!”