Because Jephthah Lacked Torah He Lost His Daughter

And because he was not a man of Torah, he lost his daughter. And so it says, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life" (Proverbs 11:30): even though a man is righteous, if he does not engage in Torah he has nothing in his hand, for it is from the Torah that one learns how to redeem souls. His daughter said to him: Perhaps it is written in the Torah that they should offer up human souls? Is it not written, "of the animal, of the herd" (Leviticus 1:2)? He said to her: My daughter, I vowed, "whatever comes forth" (Judges 11:31). She said to him: Jacob our father, who vowed, "of all that You give me I will surely tithe to You" (Genesis 28:22), and the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him twelve tribes, did he offer up one of them? And he did not listen to her. She said to him: Let me be, and I will go to the court; perhaps they will find an opening for your vow, as it is said, "Let me alone for two months" (Judges 11:37). Rabbi Levi ben Berekhya said: Now, does a person go down upon the mountains? Surely one goes up upon the mountains! Rather, what is "and I will go down"? It means I will go down to the Sanhedrin, as it is said, "Hear, O mountains, the controversy of the LORD" (Micah 6:2).