Musar for Bava Metzia 132:2
א"ל מר ינוקא ומר קשישא בני דרב חסדא לרב אשי הכי אמרי נהרדעאי משמיה דרב נחמן האי אסמכתא בזמניה קניא בלא זמניה לא קניא
Mar Yanuka and Mar Kashisha, the sons of R. Hisda,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Yanuka is derived from a root meaning youth, Kashisha, age. Accordingly, Rashi in Keth. 89b says that Mar Yanuka was the younger, and Mar Kashisha the older. Tosaf. in B.B. 7b, s.v. [H], reverses it: Mar Yanuka means a son born in R. Hisda's youth, Mar Kashisha, in his old age. ');"><sup>2</sup></span>
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
Jacob prefaced his vow with the words: אם יהיה אלוקים עמדי, If the Lord will be with me, etc." He concluded it by saying that if his request would be granted: והיה ה' לי לאלוקים, "then the Lord will be my G–d." How could Jacob have dared to use the word אם, "if," which suggests that he made his loyalty to G–d dependent on G–d fulfilling his requests? We have a halachic ruling in Baba Metzia 66 that if someone purchases something by prefacing his remarks with the conditional word אם, such a purchase is invalid, seeing he had not truly committed himself. Even though the Maharam rules that in matters of vows and oaths conditional vows are legally binding, why did Jacob use an expression involving him in possibly legally binding vows? ...
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