Napier, the inventor of the logarithm, had a feud with his
neighbor. Napier hated pigeons and his
neighbor continually fed them.
Finally, he proposed a deal. If
Napier could catch them he could kill them.
Convinced of the foolhardy nature of the bet, the neighbor consented.
The next morning, the neighbor woke to find Napier killing pigeon after
pigeon. He ran out and shouted, “I didn’t
expect you to kill all these! How could
you do it??”
Napier replied that he merely took ordinary grain, soaked it in alcohol
and fed it to the pigeons. –Scottish folk tale
As Jews we take words very seriously. They wound they heal, they have a life of their own. In fact we make such a big deal of words that the Sages said that our speech is what makes us closest to Divine. Perhaps that is why we refrain from taking vows, making promises, and taking bets.
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