{"id":11320,"date":"2007-12-21T00:17:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-21T00:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/"},"modified":"2015-10-28T06:09:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-28T11:09:00","slug":"masechet_nedarim_intro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction to Masechet Nedarim"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coming Week’s Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz<\/em><\/p>\n

This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew version of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud.<\/em><\/p>\n

This month\u2019s Steinsaltz Daf Yomi is sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Alan Harris, the Lewy Family Foundation, and Marilyn and Edward Kaplan<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Introduction to Masechet Nedarim<\/em><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Masechet<\/a> Nedarim<\/a><\/em> is connected with a number of other Talmudic tractates, including Nazir<\/a>, Shavuot<\/a><\/em> and Arakhin<\/a><\/em>. The similarity among these tractates is that all of them deal with obligations that stem not from a Torah<\/a> obligation, but from a commitment that the person accepted upon himself. On one level, Nedarim<\/em> is a general category of oaths that encompasses all of the other cases. Interestingly, while Masechet Nazir<\/em> follows Nedarim<\/em> in Seder<\/a><\/em> Nashim<\/a>, Shavuot<\/em> is in Seder Nezikin<\/a><\/em> and Arakhin<\/em> is in Kodashim<\/a><\/em>. Although Nedarim<\/em> focuses on a narrow set of laws, it is placed in Seder<\/em> Nashim<\/em> because the biblical source deals with vows made by women (see Bamidbar<\/a><\/em> 30:3<\/a>), even though the tractate deals with all types of vows.<\/p>\n

Although the most common use of the term neder<\/em> in the bible is in the context of nidrei hekdesh<\/em> (donations to the Temple<\/a> such as sacrifices), in rabbinic literature it is used most often for nidrei issur<\/em> \u2013 when a person forbids himself (or others) from deriving benefit from something. While these two categories are certainly different, a proper understanding of nidrei issur<\/em> is dependent on understanding nidrei hekdesh<\/em>. When a person takes an ordinary object and sets it aside for the Temple, by sanctifying it he essentially is removing it from everyday, mundane use. Similarly, when a person establishes that he will not derive benefit from a specific object he is removing it from his use; when he establishes that an object that he owns will be forbidden for another person, he is limiting the prohibition to a specific person (or group of people).<\/p>\n

Although there is no mitzvah<\/a><\/em> that commands a person to take a neder<\/em>, once a person takes a vow he is obligated by the Torah<\/a> to fulfill it if it was a positive commitment and forbidden by the Torah to break it if it was a statement of prohibition (see Bamidbar<\/em> 30:3). A person who does not keep his vow is subject to penalties as related in the Torah. Once a person has expressed his idea as a statement, it is no longer a private commitment, but a Torah obligation.<\/p>\n

A number of basic requirements for a neder<\/em> to take effect include the need for a person to have clear intent, that he express it in a clear manner and that the neder<\/em> refers to a specific object. Without these three elements, the neder<\/em> will not take effect, (as least not on a biblical level). Much of our tractate deals with clarification of these conditions.<\/p>\n

Although the source for the laws of nedarim<\/em> is from the Torah, generally speaking, the Sages took a dim view of taking vows. This is based on the passage in Kohelet<\/a><\/em> (5:4<\/a>) “Better not to vow than to vow and not to pay” as well as the fact that people often took vows because of anger or arguments. Furthermore, the Sages did not encourage people to accept upon themselves more prohibitions than the ones obligated by the Torah. For this reason, the Sages recommended that a person who took a vow should try to be matir neder<\/em> \u2013 find a way to have the vow annulled. The concept of hatarat nedarim <\/em>has no biblical source \u2013 the expression used by the Sages to describe their source is that they “float in the air” without any visible means of support (see Chagigah<\/a><\/em> 10a<\/a>) \u2013 but the idea stems from the basis of nedarim<\/em> in and of themselves. Since a neder<\/em> is predicated on the intent of a person, once a person has decided that he does not wish to be obligated by the neder<\/em>, it should “expire” and lose all significance. Nevertheless, since a person cannot make such a decision on his own, he must turn to the court or to a Rabbinic sage who can arrange to be matir neder.<\/em> This hatarah<\/em> takes place in one of two ways:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. By use of a petach<\/em> \u2013 an opening \u2013 where in the course of discussing the neder<\/em>, the question is raised as to whether the person understood the consequences and implications of the vow when it was first made. If he can say that he did not, the sage or the court can abrogate the neder<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  2. By use of haratah<\/em> \u2013 a statement of regret. Under certain circumstances, when the person who takes a vow states that he is sorry that he ever made this neder<\/em>, the sage can annul the vow, and we treat it as though is had never taken effect.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    A related law that does appear in the Torah is hafarat ha-neder<\/em>. The Torah gives the authority to the father of a single girl or the husband of a married woman to annul a vow made by the daughter or wife at the time that it first comes to the attention of the father or the husband. This power is limited in a number of ways, e.g. it can only be done in cases where the vow will affect the relationship between them.<\/p>\n

    \n

    In addition to his monumental translation and commentary on the Talmud, Rabbi Steinsaltz has authored dozens of books and hundreds of articles on a variety of topics, both Jewish and secular. For more information about Rabbi Steinsaltz’s groundbreaking work in Jewish education, visit www.steinsaltz.org<\/a> or contact the Aleph Society at 212-840-1166.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Coming Week’s Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew version of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud. This month\u2019s Steinsaltz Daf Yomi is sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Alan Harris, the Lewy Family<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":42404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torah","series-steinsaltz-daf-yomi"],"yoast_head":"\nIntroduction to Masechet Nedarim<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An introduction to Masechet Nedarim by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, based upon the insights & chidushim published in the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Introduction to Masechet Nedarim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An introduction to Masechet Nedarim by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, based upon the insights & chidushim published in the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-12-21T00:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-28T11:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/oath.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"769\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/\",\"name\":\"Introduction to Masechet Nedarim\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/oath.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-12-21T00:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-28T11:09:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/7a32de488ccffdeab4abf82b42a6c4e1\"},\"description\":\"An introduction to Masechet Nedarim by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, based upon the insights & chidushim published in the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/oath.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/oath.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":769,\"caption\":\"Oath\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/7a32de488ccffdeab4abf82b42a6c4e1\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b58507ea203a8aa2be80e4feca4ca54162e515258656928aab572c91c3ed85d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b58507ea203a8aa2be80e4feca4ca54162e515258656928aab572c91c3ed85d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/rabbi_adin_steinsaltzou-org\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Introduction to Masechet Nedarim","description":"An introduction to Masechet Nedarim by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, based upon the insights & chidushim published in the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Introduction to Masechet Nedarim","og_description":"An introduction to Masechet Nedarim by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, based upon the insights & chidushim published in the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2007-12-21T00:17:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-28T11:09:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":769,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/oath.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/","name":"Introduction to Masechet Nedarim","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/oath.jpg","datePublished":"2007-12-21T00:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-28T11:09:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/7a32de488ccffdeab4abf82b42a6c4e1"},"description":"An introduction to Masechet Nedarim by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, based upon the insights & chidushim published in the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_intro\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/oath.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/oath.jpg","width":1200,"height":769,"caption":"Oath"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/7a32de488ccffdeab4abf82b42a6c4e1","name":"Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b58507ea203a8aa2be80e4feca4ca54162e515258656928aab572c91c3ed85d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b58507ea203a8aa2be80e4feca4ca54162e515258656928aab572c91c3ed85d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/rabbi_adin_steinsaltzou-org\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11320"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50087,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11320\/revisions\/50087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}