Gemara Clarity

Nedarim 16a

נדרים ט״ז ע״א

Learn Nedarim 16a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Nedarim 16a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

How the wording of vows and oaths decides whether they take effect, and how נדרים differ from שבועות

Overview

The גמרא asks whose view our משנה about קרבן vows follows. It answers רבי מאיר, because רבי יהודה does not make the wording distinctions the משנה relies on. A challenge comes from an earlier משנה where רבי מאיר forbids 'לקרבן, I will not eat of yours.' The גמרא answers that our משנה is about 'לא לקרבן', meaning 'not a קרבן', which makes no vow. Next, a new משנה rules that several oath wordings forbid the food, including 'שבועה שאוכל לך.' A משנה in מסכת שבועות seems to read 'שאוכל' as 'I will eat.' אביי answers that the meaning depends on whether he was agreeing to eat or refusing. רב אשי instead reads the word as 'שאי אוכל', and the גמרא explains why each one rejected the other's answer. Finally, a new משנה teaches that oaths are stricter than vows in one way, and vows are stricter in another: a נדר can forbid using a סוכה, לולב or תפילין, but a שבועה to break a מצוה does not take effect.

Opening lines

<big><strong>גְּמָ׳</strong></big> מַנִּי מַתְנִיתִין —

GEMARA: Whose opinion is the משנה?

רַבִּי מֵאִיר הִיא,

It is רבי מאיר.

דְּאִי רַבִּי יְהוּדָה —

For if it were רבי יהודה,

לָא שָׁנֵי לֵיהּ ״קׇרְבָּן״

it makes no difference to him whether one says 'an offering'

The steps (18)

  1. QuestionWhose view is the משנה?
  2. ResponseIt follows רבי מאיר, not רבי יהודה
  3. StatementQuoting the end of the משנה
  4. ChallengeBut רבי מאיר forbids this wording
  5. ResolutionTwo different sentences: 'as a קרבן' versus 'not a קרבן'
  6. StatementNew משנה: oaths about not eating someone's food
  7. StatementInference from the משנה: 'שאוכל לך' means 'I will not eat'
  8. ChallengeContradiction from the משנה in מסכת שבועות
  9. Resolutionאביי: 'שאוכל' can mean either one, depending on context
  10. Resolutionרב אשי: He really said 'that I will not eat'
  11. ChallengeIf so, why teach something so obvious?
  12. ResolutionWe might have thought he slipped in his speech
  13. RejectionWhy אביי did not answer like רב אשי
  14. RejectionWhy רב אשי turned away from אביי's reasoning
  15. RejectionThe plain reading of 'I will not eat' is also possible
  16. ProofThe תנא fixed one clear meaning for each phrase
  17. StatementOaths are stricter than vows in one way
  18. StatementVows are stricter than oaths: a vow can forbid a מצוה