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Perek 2

Mishnayos Nedarim Perek 2 Mishnah 1

נדרים פרק ב׳ משנה א׳

1
And these are the vows in which the one who takes the vow attempts to create a prohibition on an item by associating it with an item in an ineffective manner, rendering the vow void and leaving the item permitted: If one says: That which I will eat of yours will be non-sacred [ḥullin]; or: That which I will eat of yours will be like pig meat; or: Like an object of idol worship; or: Like the hides of animal offerings whose hearts were removed as a form of idol worship, and it is therefore prohibited to derive benefit from those animals; or: Like animal carcasses and animals with a wound that will cause them to die within twelve months [tereifot]; or: Like non-kosher repugnant creatures and non-kosher creeping animals; or: Like the ḥalla of Aaron, the first priest, or like his teruma; in all these cases, the food is permitted. Although none of these items may be eaten, they are forbidden by Torah law, not by means of a vow. Therefore, it is impossible to extend their prohibition to other items by means of a vow that associates them with those items. With regard to a man who says to his wife: You are hereby to me like my mother, i.e., deriving benefit from you should be forbidden to me like engaging in sexual intercourse with my mother, dissolution is broached with him by suggesting a different extenuation, i.e., a halakhic authority suggests other, extenuating circumstances that enable the dissolution of the vow. Although this vow does not take effect either, as engaging in sexual intercourse with one’s mother is prohibited by Torah law, by rabbinic law this is treated like an actual vow and requires dissolution by a halakhic authority, so that he will not take genuine vows lightly. With regard to one who says: Sleeping is forbidden for me as if it were an offering [konam], thereby prohibiting himself from sleeping; or: Speaking is konam for me; or: Walking is konam for me; or one who says to his wife: Engaging in sexual intercourse with you is konam for me, if he violates the vow he is in violation of the prohibition “He shall not profane his word” (Numbers 30:3). If one says: I take an oath that I will not sleep, or: That I will not speak, or: That I will not walk, this activity is prohibited to him.

וְאֵלּוּ מֻתָּרִין. חֻלִּין שֶׁאֹכַל לָךְ, כִּבְשַׂר חֲזִיר, כַּעֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, כְּעוֹרוֹת לְבוּבִין, כִּנְבֵלוֹת, כִּטְרֵפוֹת, כִּשְׁקָצִים, כִּרְמָשִׂים, כְּחַלַּת אַהֲרֹן וְכִתְרוּמָתוֹ, מֻתָּר. הָאוֹמֵר לְאִשְׁתּוֹ, הֲרֵי אַתְּ עָלַי כְּאִמָּא, פּוֹתְחִין לוֹ פֶתַח מִמָּקוֹם אַחֵר, שֶׁלֹּא יָקֵל רֹאשׁוֹ לְכָךְ. קוֹנָם שֶׁאֵינִי יָשֵׁן, שֶׁאֵינִי מְדַבֵּר, שֶׁאֵינִי מְהַלֵּךְ, הָאוֹמֵר לְאִשְׁתּוֹ, קוֹנָם שֶׁאֵינִי מְשַׁמְּשֵׁךְ, הֲרֵי זֶה בְלֹא יַחֵל דְּבָרוֹ. שְׁבוּעָה שֶׁאֵינִי יָשֵׁן, שֶׁאֵינִי מְדַבֵּר, שֶׁאֵינִי מְהַלֵּךְ, אָסוּר:

א׳

ואלו מותרין. חולין שאוכל לך (and these [vows] are not binding: may what I eat of yours be unconsecrated food) – he (i.e., the teacher of the Mishnah) took these merely as a sign, ust as unconsecrated food that I may eat of yours – there is no need for a request made to a Sage (i.e., if a person makes a vow or takes an oath, or consecrates property, and afterwards regrets having done so, he may go to a Sage and request that he release him from his vow). So also, all of these that we mention in our Mishnah in the first clause there is no need for a request made to a Sage.

כעורות לבובין (like hides pierced at the heart) – they wud make incisions in the animal while it is living opposite the heart and remove the heart and sacrifice it to idolatry, and this sacrifice to idolatry is prohibited to derive any benefit.

כחלת אהרן – who was first for the Kohanim (see Numbers 15:20 – “You shall make a gift to the LORD from the first yield of your baking, throughout the ages). And it cannot be something that is vowed, for Hallah and heave-offering/Terumah come as a vow or a free-will offering.

הרי זה מותר – as it states in Scripture (Numbers 30:3): “If a man makes a vow [to the LORD],” until he should make a vow with a thing that is vowed. But a sin-offering that I won’t eat with you , as we stated in the first chapter [of Tractate Nedarim, Mishnah 4], even though it is not something that is vowed, there is reason, for it is possible that he will bring a sin-offering through a vow, as for example, that he took a vow to be a Nazir, and is liable to bring a sin-offering [upon the conclusion of the thirty-day length of serving as a Nazir].

הרי את עלי כאמא (Lo, you are like mother to me) – even though this this is not a matter that is vowed, it is more severe from all of the others that are above, he requires a release from the Rabbis if he is an illiterate individual (i.e., “Am HaAretz)

and we make an opening for retracting a vow from another place (i.e., reason) meaning to say, we request for him and opening and reason for his remorse. But it is not sufficient [to ask him]: Do you now regret [that you had vowed]? Or that your heart is upon you – that you bear a grudge (see Tractate Nedarim 21b), and all of this in order that he may not behave lightly in such a matter and that he should not become accustomed to forbid his wife upon him.

קונם שאיני ישן כו' – Lo, this is (Numbers 30:3): “he shall not break his pledge” according to the Rabbis, but from the Torah, there is no vow taking effect, for vows do not take effect other than on something that has substance (see Talmud Nedarim 15a).

קונם שאיני משמשך (that I will not have sexual relations with you) – In the Gemara (Tractate Nedarim 15b) a difficulty is raised if he is subservient to her, how is he able to release her subservience through his vow, for it is like prohibiting the produce of his fellow on his fellow? But it [i.e., the Gemara] responds, as, for example, when he stated that he takes a vow against enjoying the benefit of her sexual relations with me,” that he forbade this benefit upon himself, and we don’t feed a person something that is forbidden to him.

שבועה שאיני ישן וכו' – this is forbidden form the Torah, for oaths take effect whether there is something in it of substance, or whether it is on something that has no substance. But if he took an oath to not sleep for three consecutive days, night and day, he is flogged/whipped and he sleeps immediately, because he took an oath on something that is impossible to fulfill.

ואלו מותרין. חולין שאוכל לך. לסימן בעלמא נקטיה, כשם שחולין שאוכל לך אין צריך שאלה לחכם, כך כל הני דאמרינן במתניתין ברישא אין צריכין שאלת חכם:

כעורות לבובין. היו נוקבים הבהמה מחיים כנגד הלב ומוציאין הלב ומקריבין אותו לע״ז, ותקרובת ע״ז אסור בהנאה:

כחלת אהרן. שהיה ראשון לכהנים. ולא הוי דבר הנדור, שאין חלה ותרומה באין בנדר ונדבה:

הרי זה מותר. דאמר קרא (במדבר ל׳) איש כי ידור נדר, עד שידור בדבר הנדור. וחטאת שאיני אוכל לך דאמרינן בפרק קמא דאסור ואף על פי שאינו דבר הנדור, הוי טעמא, דאפשר שיביא חטאת על ידי נדר, כגון שנדר בנזיר ומתחייב להביא חטאת:

הרי את עלי כאמא. אע״ג דלאו דבר הנדור הוא. חמור מכל הני דלעיל, דצריך התירא מדרבנן אם הוא עם הארץ:

פותחין לו פתח ממקום אחר. כלומר מבקשים לו פתח וטעם לחרטתו. ולא סגי בכדו תהית או לבך עלך. וכל זה שלא יקל ראשו ולא ירגיל לאסור אשתו עליו:

קונם שאיני ישן כו׳ הרי זה בבל יחל מדרבנן. אבל מן התורה אין הנדר חל, דנדרים אין חלים אלא על דבר שיש בו ממש:

קונם שאיני משמשך. בגמרא מקשה, והא משועבד לה והיאך יכול להפקיע שעבודה בנדרו והא הוי כאוסר פירות חבירו על חבירו. ומשני, כגון דאמר הנאת תשמישך עלי קונם, שאסר ההנאה עליו, ואין מאכילין לו לאדם דבר האסור לו:

שבועה שאיני ישן וכו׳ אסור מן התורה, דשבועות חלין בין על דבר שיש בו ממש בין על דבר שאין בו ממש. ואם נשבע שלא יישן שלשה ימים רצופין לילה ויום, לוקה ויישן מיד, מפני שנשבע על דבר שאי אפשר לקיימו: