For the source text click/tap here: Shavuot 27
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The Talmud often interrogates the problem of speech without sincere intent, a form of halakhic lip service. For example:
A person says, “I swear I will fast,” but says it jokingly or in anger.
Does the external form of the statement bind them, even if their heart was not in it?
Schick argues that these cases reveal the Talmud’s discomfort with legal automation—the idea that words alone, detached from context and sincerity, should generate obligation.
This leads to the idea of legal interpretation as psychoanalysis: the Beit Din must discern what was meant, not merely what was said.
Thought Without Speech: Can the Heart Alone Obligate?
The inverse question also arises: if someone intended to take a vow but never uttered it, is it binding?
The general rule in the Talmud is: “Devarim shebalev einam devarim” — “unspoken thoughts are not legally significant” (Kiddushin 49b).
We struggle between lip service and affairs of the heart.