Nedarim 23a

נדרים כ״ג ע״א

Learn Nedarim 23a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Openings for dissolving vows (the launderer story and the נולד question, threat-vows against a wife) and cancelling future vows in advance

Overview

This amud finishes a story about a vow the חכמים struggled to dissolve. They sat so long that they moved from sun to shade and back. בטנית found the opening: would the man have vowed had he known the חכמים would suffer like this? He said no, and the vow was released. In a similar story, רבי ישמעאל בר רבי יוסי kept rejecting every opening. Then a launderer hit him, and he said he would not have vowed had he known that would happen. רב אחא מדיפתי objects that being hit is a נולד, a new situation, and we may not open a vow with a נולד. רבינא answers that attacks on the חכמים by heretics were common, so it was not a נולד. Next, רב יוסף releases אביי's threat-vow against his wife, and a ברייתא shows that רבי יוסי did the same in a similar case. Finally, a new משנה teaches that one may cancel future pressure-vows in advance, and the גמרא asks how that plan could still pressure the friend.

Opening lines

The steps (12)

1. StatementThe Sages struggle for a long time to dissolve the vow
2. StatementAnother version: he kept saying yes to every opening
3. Resolutionבטנית finds the opening: the חכמים' own trouble
4. Statementרבי ישמעאל בר רבי יוסי keeps saying yes
5. ConclusionThe launderer's blow becomes the opening
6. ChallengeIsn't being hit by a launderer a new, unexpected situation?
7. ResolutionAttacks on the חכמים were common, so it is not something new
8. Statementאביי's vow over whom the daughter would marry
9. QuestionCan a vow really be released this way?
10. ResponseYes: רבי יוסי did the same with a vow about going up for the festival
11. StatementCancelling your future vows ahead of time
12. ChallengeIf the vow is already cancelled, why would the friend listen?