Many books emphasize the importance of fulfilling one's charity pledges without delay. A person who delays payment of his pledges is likely to forget about his promise altogether or forget the exact sum he promised, which then results in his failure to properly fulfill his pledge. In addition, it is said that when a person pledges a donation, he creates an angel that does not achieve its complete form until the donation is actually made. If a person fails to fulfill his pledge, such that the angel remains incomplete, he may be punished, Heaven forbid, with hardships affecting his family. In retribution for his failure to complete the angel, he, too, will experience a sense of incompleteness in his family life, God forbid.
Furthermore, the Rabbis teach that when a person makes a pledge, the Almighty opens this individual's books, so-to-speak, like a shopkeeper who keeps his ledger open to see who owes him money. The books are closed only once he carries out his pledge. And when a person's books are open before the Almighty, he is likely to face strict judgment should he come upon some kind of dangerous situation.
Additionally, the Rabbis teach that if one fulfills his pledges, God fulfills his requests and answers his prayers, whereas if a person fails to fulfill his pledges, his prayers go unanswered, Heaven forbid. The Gemara instructs that it is preferable not to make pledges altogether than make a pledge and not fulfill the promise. In fact, the Gemara warns that failure to fulfill a pledge can bring a drought, where clouds appear but no rain falls from the sky. Some Rabbis explained that when a person makes a promise to donate a sum of money, the poor people or the institutions anxiously anticipate and depend upon this sum of money, and the individual's failure to pay the sum causes them grief and disappointment. Appropriately, God punishes such a society by bringing rain clouds and arousing the anticipation of much-needed rain, only to then have the clouds dissipate without producing rainfall. (Masechet Taanit 8B)
One must therefore make a point of fulfilling his pledge as soon as possible. If a person is called to the Torah on Shabbat morning and he pledges a sum of money to the synagogue, he should bring the check to the synagogue already on Sunday morning. A certain person I knew would occasionally anticipate being called to the Torah before Shabbat, and would therefore prepare the check and bring it to the synagogue Friday afternoon, so that immediately after Shabbat he could fulfill his pledge. This is certainly an advisable and most worthwhile practice.
