Go to Related Reading
About this book

Nedarim

Babylonian Talmud

About this book
Chapter 77b

in a side room [kitona] of the study hall, while standing, alone and at night. Rabba said that Rav Naḥman said: The halakha is that one can request the dissolution of vows even when the halakhic authority is standing or alone, i.e., without a court of three, as long as he is a halakhic authority, and that one can do so at night, on Shabbat, and by relatives, and even when those requesting dissolution on Shabbat had the opportunity to do so while it was still day, i.e., before Shabbat. The Gemara raises a difficulty with this ruling: Can a judge dissolve a vow while standing? But it is taught in a baraita that Rabban Gamliel alighted from a donkey, and wrapped himself in his shawl in the customary manner of a judge, and sat, and dissolved a man’s vow for him. If one can dissolve a vow while standing, why did he sit? The Gemara explains: Rabban Gamliel holds that one must broach dissolution based on regret. In other words, a halakhic authority does not dissolve vows directly, but must prompt the one who took the vow to concede that he regrets having taken the vow in the first place. We require that the vow be uprooted, and he needed to examine the case; therefore, he sat down. But Rav Naḥman holds that one need not broach dissolution based on regret, and therefore a halakhic authority can dissolve the vow even while standing. Rava said to Rav Naḥman: Master, see that Sage who came from the West, Eretz Yisrael, and who said: The Sages attended to the dissolution of a vow taken by the son of Rav Huna bar Avin, and they dissolved his vow and said to him: Go and request mercy for yourself, for you have sinned by taking a vow. As Rav Dimi, the brother of Rav Safra teaches: With regard to anyone who takes a vow, even if he fulfills it, he is called a sinner. Rav Zevid said: What verse teaches this? It is: “But if you refrain to vow, it will be no sin in you” (Deuteronomy 23:23). It may be inferred that if you did not refrain from taking vows, there is sin.⁠ § It is taught in a baraita: One who says to his wife: Any vows which you will vow, I do not want [ee efshi] you to vow, or one who wants to nullify a vow and says: This is not a vow, has not said anything, as this is not a valid formula of nullification. If he says: You have done well, or: There are none like you, or: If you had not taken a vow, I, myself, would have taken a vow to obligate you in this, his statement is substantial, and the vow is ratified. A man should not say to his wife when nullifying her vows on Shabbat: It is nullified for you, or: It is canceled for you, in the manner that he would say to her on weekdays. Rather, he should say to her, if she took a vow to refrain from food or drink: Take this and eat it,or: Take this and drink it, and the vow is canceled on its own. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: And he must also cancel the vow in his heart; simply telling her to eat or drink is not sufficient. It is taught in a baraita: Beit Shammai say: On Shabbat he cancels the vow in his heart and on a weekday he articulates the nullification with his lips. And Beit Hillel say: Both in this case and in that case, i.e., whether on Shabbat or a weekday, it is sufficient if he cancels the vow in his heart, and he need not articulate with his lips. § Rabbi Yoḥanan said: A halakhic authority who pronounced his dissolution of a vow with language appropriate to a husband, i.e., he said the word nullified instead of dissolved, or a husband who pronounced his nullification of a vow with language appropriate to a halakhic authority, i.e., he said the word dissolved instead of nullified, has not said anything. Each of them has the authority to cancel a vow only in the particular manner allotted to him. As it is taught in a baraita: The verse “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded” (Numbers 30:2) indicates that the husband’s nullification, which is the topic of the subsequent verses, must be done specifically in this way. The Sages concluded that a halakhic authority dissolves a vow, but a husband does not dissolve it. As, one might have thought: And just as a halakhic authority, who cannot nullify vows, nevertheless dissolves them, so too with regard to a husband, who can nullify vows, is it not logical that he should also dissolve them? Therefore, the verse states:

Texts in conversation

Compare Matthew 5:34 and Nedarim 77b

New Testament · Rabbinic

Share:

Summary

Jesus teaches in Matthew that people should avoid taking oaths, which resembles a Rabbinic debate in Nedarim about whether formal vows are a virtue. Both stress that relying on vows weakens integrity and that honesty should stand on its own.

Passages

Matthew 5:34

New Testament
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation, ‘Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, do not take oaths at all—not by heaven, because it is the throne of God, 35 not by earth because it is his footstool, and not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. 36 Do not take an oath by your head because you are not able to make one hair white or black. 37 Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’ More than this is from the evil one.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Nedarim 77b

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
Rava said to Rav Naḥman: Master, see that Sage who came from the West, Eretz Yisrael, and who said: The Sages attended to the dissolution of a vow taken by the son of Rav Huna bar Avin, and they dissolved his vow and said to him: Go and request mercy for yourself, for you have sinned by taking a vow. As Rav Dimi, the brother of Rav Safra teaches: With regard to anyone who takes a vow, even if he fulfills it, he is called a sinner. Rav Zevid said: What verse teaches this? It is: “But if you refrain to vow, it will be no sin in you” (Deuteronomy 23:23). It may be inferred that if you did not refrain from taking vows, there is sin.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Nedarim

References

"... The most striking aspect of the exegetical debate on vowing (Deuteronomy 23:22) or not vowing (Deuteronomy 23:23) is that the debate needs to be held at all. Normally, rabbinic legal exegesis has no trouble dealing with redundant, inconsistent, or even contradictory texts. According to the system of harmonistic legal exegesis (midrash halakah), the simple solution is to deny any redundancy, inconsistency, or contradiction. In the case of the three pentateuchal manumission laws, for example, each is construed as having a separate application so that there is no overlap between them. Theoretically, a similar approach might have worked here: “If you vow: this applies to case A. But if you do not vow: this applies to case B.” But no such solution is suggested. Instead, the text becomes a context for arguing the relative merits of vowing or not vowing. Neither R. Meir nor R. Judah can read Deuteronomy’s law of vows as a coherent unit; each must choose between verses 22 and 23, between vowing and not vowing, and between the original text and the interpolation. This debate on vows struck a responsive chord in a wide range of rabbinic texts. It is widely cited in both the Babylonian and the Palestinian Talmuds in a number of contexts. The position of R. Meir seems to become dominant, to the extent that the very notion of vowing altogether comes to be regarded as a sin (b. Nedarim 77b) ..."
Bernard M. Levinson, A More Perfect Torah: At the Intersection of Philology and Hermeneutics in Deuteronomy and the Temple Scroll, CSHB 1 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2013), 64.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Tags

Your feedback

Matthew 5:34 and Nedarim 77b

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library