Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Nedarim

Folio 60a

CHAPTER VIII

MISHNAH. [IF ONE VOWS,] 'KONAM, IF I TASTE WINE TO-DAY, HE IS FORBIDDEN ONLY UNTIL IT GETS DARK; [IF HE SAYS] 'THIS SABBATH,'⁴  HE IS FORBIDDEN THE WHOLE WEEK AND THE SABBATH BELONGS TO THE PAST;⁵  'THIS MONTH,' HE IS FORBIDDEN THE WHOLE OF THAT MONTH, BUT THE BEGINNING OF THE [FOLLOWING] MONTH BELONGS TO THE FUTURE;⁶  'THIS YEAR,' HE IS FORBIDDEN THE WHOLE YEAR, WHILST THE BEGINNING OF THE [FOLLOWING] YEAR BELONGS TO THE FUTURE; THIS SEPTENNATE,'⁷  HE IS FORBIDDEN THE WHOLE OF THAT SEPTENNATE, AND THE [FOLLOWING] SABBATICAL YEAR BELONGS TO THE PAST.⁸  BUT IF HE SAYS, 'ONE DAY,' 'ONE SABBATH,' 'ONE MONTH,' 'ONE YEAR,' [OR] 'ONE SEPTENNATE,' HE IS FORBIDDEN FROM DAY TO DAY.⁹  [IF ONE VOWS,] 'UNTIL PASSOVER, HE IS FORBIDDEN UNTIL IT ARRIVES; 'UNTIL IT BE' [PASSOVER], HE IS FORBIDDEN UNTIL IT GOES;¹⁰  'UNTIL PENE¹¹  PASSOVER,' R. MEIR SAID: HE IS FORBIDDEN UNTIL IT ARRIVES; R. JOSE SAID: UNTIL IT GOES.

GEMARA. 'KONAM, IF I TASTE WINE' etc. R. Jeremiah¹²  said: At nightfall he must obtain absolution iron, a Sage.¹³  What is the reason? — R. Joseph said: 'To-day' is forbidden as a precautionary measure on account of 'one day'¹⁴

1. I.e., an onion of terumah having been planted and its yield replanted, the second crop is permitted, but the first is terumah.
2. Then what does R. Hanina teach?
3. Whilst the Mishnah stating that it is forbidden holds good only if the growth does not exceed the original.
4. 'Sabbath' denotes both the Sabbath day and a calendar week.
5. I.e., the Sabbath following his vow, belongs to the current week, not the following.
6. And hence permitted
7. I.e., the seven-year cycle.
8. I.e., it ends the Septennate in which the vow was made, and hence is included. An alternate rendering of the whole passage is this: 'This Sabbath' (that is the actual word of the Mishnah; v. n. I): e.g., if one vows on the Sabbath day, the whole week is forbidden, and the Sabbath of the past week too, i.e., the day of his vow, though belonging to the past week, while the vow obviously refers to the coming one, is nevertheless included. 'This month', e.g., if he vows on new moon (Rosh hodesh), the whole of the following month is forbidden, and the new moon itself is also accounted to the next month. 'This year', i.e., if one vows on new year's day, the whole of the year is forbidden, including that day, which belongs to the future. 'This septennate', i.e., if one vows in the Sabbatical year, the following septennate is forbidden, and the Sabbatical year itself in which he vows, though really belonging to the past Septennate. — On this interpretation, if a vow is made on the Sabbath, New Moon, New Year's day or in a Sabbatical year, for a Sabbath (i.e., calendar week), month, year, or septennate respectively, the day itself on which the vow is made, and in the last case, the Sabbatical year itself, are forbidden. The different phraseology used to indicate this, reference being made to the future in two cases and to the past in two others, intimates the law, if one vows in the middle of the week, etc. Thus, if in the middle of the week or septennate, the following Sabbath and Sabbatical year are forbidden; in the middle of the month or year, the following New Moon or New Year's day are permitted. Ran, Asheri and Tosaf. prefer the former interpretation: Rashi the latter.
9. I.e., a day of twenty-four hours; likewise a month of thirty days, a year of twelve months, and a septennate of seven years.
10. I.e., the future tense is regarded as future perfect.
11. [Var. lec.: lifene. Either word may denote (a) the turn of; (b) the face of; (c) until before.]
12. Asheri in his 'Pesakim' reads: R. Jeremiah b. Abba.
13. But the vow is not lifted automatically.
14. If when one vows 'to-day', he is told that the vow' automatically ends at nightfall, he may think the same of 'one day', which binds him, however, twenty-four hours.

Rabina said: Meremar told me: Thus said your father in R. Joseph's name: With whom does this statement of R. Jeremiah b. Abba agree? With R. Nathan. For it was taught: R. Nathan said: Whoever vows is as though he built a high place, and who fulfils it, is as though he burnt incense thereon.³

THIS SABBATH, HE IS FORBIDDEN THE WHOLE WEEK [AND THE SABBATH BELONGS TO THE PAST]. This is obvious? — I might think that he meant the [week] days of the Sabbath:⁴  we are therefore taught [otherwise].

'THIS MONTH,' HE IS FORBIDDEN THE WHOLE OF THAT MONTH, BUT THE BEGINNING OF THE [FOLLOWING] MONTH BELONGS TO THE FUTURE. This is obvious? — It is necessary only when the [following] Month is defective: I might think that the new Moon belongs to the past, and is forbidden: it is therefore intimated that people call it new moon.⁵

'THIS YEAR,' HE IS FORBIDDEN THE WHOLE YEAR. The scholars propounded: What if one vows, 'Konam, if I taste wine a day'? is its law as 'to-day' or 'one day'? — Come and hear [a solution] from our Mishnah. 'KONAM, IF I TASTE WINE TO DAY HE IS FORBIDDEN WINE ONLY UNTIL IT GETS DARK; hence 'a day' is as 'one day'! Then consider the second clause: IF HE SAYS, 'ONE DAY,' HE IS FORBIDDEN FROM DAY TO DAY: hence a day' is as 'to-day'?⁶  Thus nothing can be deduced from this.

R. Ashi said, Come and hear: 'Konam, if I taste wine this year,'⁷  if the year was intercalated, he is forbidden for the year and the extra month. How is this meant?

1. I.e., if he vows 'one day', let him be forbidden until the nightfall of the following day. Otherwise, if he terminates his vow in the middle of the day, twenty-four hours after its commencement, he may think that had he stated 'today', he could likewise end it in the middle of the day of his vow.
2. I.e., if he vows 'one day', he may think that it ends at nightfall, just as 'to-day'; but if he vows 'to-day', he cannot possibly think that it ends before the nightfall of the same day, since in 'one day' the vow lasts beyond nightfall and includes part of the following day too.
3. I.e., because one does wrong in vowing at all, he is treated stringently and ordered to obtain absolution for his vow when it should lapse automatically. In Rashi's opinion, this conflicts with the reason given by R. Joseph. But Asheri regards it as complementary thereto: whilst accepting the reasoning, he regards the fear of mistaking 'to-day' for 'one day' as insufficient in itself to justify this precautionary measure: hence he adds the reason drawn from R. Nathan's dictum.
4. The Sabbath being a day of delight, it might be assumed that he never intended to deny himself wine on that day, since week-days too are implied in that term.
5. The months of the Jewish year consist of either twenty-nine or thirty days and generally alternate. Hence, if the following month is detective (i.e., of twenty-nine days), this one is full. In the month following a full one, the first two days are designated 'new moon', the first being really the thirtieth day of the past full month. Hence, if one vowed in a full month, it might be thought that he is bound on the first new moon day of the next. Therefore the Mishnah teaches that since it is called new moon, People generally regard it as part of the next month, and hence he is permitted thereon. — This is the reading of Asheri, Ran and Tosaf. But our editions, and Rashi too. have: I might think that the new moon belongs to the past, and should not be forbidden. This reading cannot be reconciled with the first interpretation of the Mishnah, but agrees with the second (q.v. p. 190, n. 5). If he vowed 'this month' on the first new moon day, I might think that since it actually belongs to the past month he is not forbidden thereon. Therefore it is taught that since it is designated new moon, he must have meant to include it.
6. In Heb. 'one' is expressed by [H], but the indef. 'a' is unexpressed, lit., 'day', and hence the problem, and the differentiation between 'a day' and one day'.
7. Lit., 'the year'.