Nedarim 81a

נדרים פ״א ע״א

Learn Nedarim 81a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Why not laundering is a bigger hardship than not bathing according to רבי יוסי, a warning about dirt, and why the sons of תלמידי חכמים often do not become תלמידי חכמים themselves.

Overview

The גמרא finishes a challenge to רבי יוסי: if not laundering counts as suffering, shouldn't not bathing count even more? It answers that dirty clothes are worse, and proves this from שמואל's teaching about the dangers of grime. A message from ארץ ישראל follows: be careful about grime, learn Torah in a group, and value the sons of the poor, because Torah comes from them. The גמרא then asks why the sons of תלמידי חכמים often do not become תלמידי חכמים, and five אמוראים answer. רבינא's answer, that they do not first say a ברכה on the Torah, is proven from פסוקים in ירמיהו about why the land was destroyed. Next comes the story of איסי בר יהודה and ורדימוס, which finds the source for רבי יוסי's rule that a town's laundry comes before other people's lives in the word 'חייתם'. Finally, the גמרא asks whether, according to רבי יוסי, a husband can cancel bathing and grooming vows as matters between him and his wife. An attempted proof is rejected, and רב אדא בר אהבה and רב הונא disagree.

Opening lines

The steps (26)

1. ChallengeShouldn't the whole body count even more?
2. ResolutionNot laundering is the stronger hardship
3. Proofשמואל on the dangers of grime
4. StatementA message from ארץ ישראל: three warnings
5. QuestionWhy don't scholars' sons become scholars?
6. Responseרב יוסף: so Torah isn't seen as an inheritance
7. Responseרב ששת בריה דרב אידי: so they won't act arrogantly
8. Responseמר זוטרא: because they lord over the community
9. Responseרב אשי: because they call people donkeys
10. Responseרבינא: they don't make a ברכה on Torah first
11. ProofThe question no sage or prophet could answer
12. Proofה׳ Himself explains why the land was destroyed
13. ChallengeThe two phrases in the פסוק seem to say the same thing
14. Resolution'Not walking in it' means not saying a ברכה first
15. Statementאיסי בר יהודה stays away from רבי יוסי's yeshiva
16. QuestionWhat is the source for 'laundry comes before other people's lives'?
17. Responseורדימוס quotes the פסוק about the land of the לוים
18. Rejection'חייתם' cannot mean wild animals
19. Rejection'Their actual lives' is too obvious
20. Conclusion'חייתם' means laundry, which is needed to live comfortably
21. StatementBack to the משנה: רבי יוסי says these are not vows of affliction
22. QuestionCan the husband cancel them for a different reason?
23. ProofAn attempted proof from רבי יוסי's wording
24. RejectionMaybe רבי יוסי was only arguing on the חכמים' terms
25. QuestionSo what does רבי יוסי hold?
26. Statementרב אדא בר אהבה says he can cancel, רב הונא says he cannot