{"id":11610,"date":"2008-03-14T15:41:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-14T15:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/masechet_nedarim_8590\/"},"modified":"2015-10-28T10:57:56","modified_gmt":"2015-10-28T15:57:56","slug":"masechet_nedarim_8590","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_nedarim_8590\/","title":{"rendered":"Masechet Nedarim 84a-90b"},"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

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Nedarim 84a-b<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mishnah<\/a> (83b<\/a>) teaches that in a case where a person takes a vow that kohanim<\/em><\/a> and levi’im<\/em><\/a> cannot derive any benefit from him, the priests and Levites can take the terumah<\/em><\/a> and ma’aser<\/em><\/a> (tithes) that are due to them, even against the will of the one who made the vow; the tithes, after all, do not really belong to him \u2013 they belong to the families of the priests and Levites. If, however, the person says that specific Kohanim <\/em>or Levi\u2019im<\/em> cannot derive benefit from him, then those priests and Levites should not take tithes from him, but rather should allow others to do so.<\/p>\n

The Gemara<\/a> wants to suggest that this halakhah<\/em><\/a> can shed light on a general question discussed in numerous places in the Talmud<\/a> \u2013 tovat hana’ah mamon<\/em> or tovat hana’ah eino mamon?<\/p>\n

The concept of tovat hana’ah <\/em>is a sense of benefit that has a real monetary value (not a mere sense of pleasure for having done something) that can be associated with it. This can be evaluated by answering the question \u2013 is this something that a person can get paid to do? Specifically in our case, the owner of the field who is dividing up his tithes among kohanim<\/em> and Levi’im<\/em> of his choosing can be approached by someone who is willing to pay him to give the tithes to specific people. Do we view this as an intrinsic part of the value of the item, or is it, at best, a side benefit that has no specific significance?<\/p>\n

The Talmud Yerushalmi<\/em><\/a> brings a disagreement as to whether a person is allowed to accept tovat hana’ah<\/em> payment in the case of tithes. All are in agreement, however, that if such a payment can be made, it must be made by a third party and not by the recipient himself, since such an arrangement would be chillul kodashim<\/em> \u2013 a desecration of the tithes.<\/p>\n

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Nedarim 85a-b<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mishnah<\/a> on our daf<\/em> teaches that there is a difference of opinion in a case where a woman takes a neder<\/em><\/a> that she will not perform those activities that a woman is obligated to perform for her husband based on their agreement in the ketubah<\/em><\/a> (see Ketubot 59<\/a> for a list of these activities).<\/p>\n