What is the significance of Kol Nidrei - A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #831

Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt'l

Kol nidrei really has become much more important than it really was in the beginning.

However, it's understood by the Jewish nation as follows: that a man should know that whatever he says is of utmost seriousness. A person can create laws of Torah by opening his mouth. I once heard a shiur by the gaon Reb Shimon Shkop, and he said, "What is a neder? A neder is a tefillah to Hashem, that He should create an issur d'Oraisa, at my request." That's how great a man's words are. Hashem gives you the power to create issurim.

Now, if your word is so important, then you have to know how serious is the subject of speech. Just like Hashem, "Ki Hu amar vayehi," by His words He created the universe. A man can't make a universe, but with his words he can create great things. And he can create his olam haba, too, with his words. He says the right words and he thinks them, he can make for himself a great future.

And that's why divrei Torah should be said with a mouth. Ki chaim heim l'motzaeihem, it's life for those who find them. Al tikri, don't read it l'motzaeihem; ela l'motziaeihem b'feh, the words of the Torah are life for those who utter them. Uttering words of the Torah are a life for us, eternal life.

And therefore, the ceremony, the procedure of Kol Nidrei, comes to emphasize how important are our words. And therefore we have to be very, very careful. That's one of the first forms of teshuvah, to be careful what comes out of our mouth. And included in this great lesson is that the entire Torah is one great sh'vua. That sh'vua has no hatara, that's the sh'vua that we swore at Har Sinai to accept the Torah. That sh'vua is forever and ever, for us and our children and our children's children forever.

And so when we make hataras nedorim on Kol Nidrei night, it's really a lesson in the greatness of the function of speech.