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Shevuos 28a

שבועות כ״ח ע״א

Shevuot 28a

Learn Shevuos 28a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shevuos 28a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Dissolving an oath after eating: רבא's כזית rule, the נזירות challenge, אמימר's view, and a conditional oath on two loaves

Overview

This amud continues רבא's ruling that someone who swore off a loaf can have the oath dissolved if he left over a כזית. The גמרא asks why a full כזית is needed, and answers in two ways depending on whether the oath was 'שלא אוכל' or 'שלא אוכלנה'. Next it challenges רבא's assumption that once the whole loaf is eaten, it is too late to dissolve the oath. The challenge comes from a ברייתא about a person with two נזירות vows who dissolved the first one after finishing it. The גמרא first tries to limit that case, and then רב אשי explains that נזירות is different, because dissolving the first lets the kept days count for the second. אמימר disagrees with רבא and holds that one may ask even after eating the whole loaf, since the קרבן or מלקות is still ahead of him. אמימר adds that once a person is tied for lashes it is too late, but the גמרא rejects that limit, since he has not run away. Finally, רבא rules on a conditional oath about two loaves, where liability depends on whether each loaf was eaten by accident or on purpose.

Opening lines

אֲפִילּוּ כָּל שֶׁהוּא נָמֵי!

Even any amount, too!

אִי בָּעֵית אֵימָא ״שֶׁלֹּא אוֹכַל״,

If you want, say: 'that I will not eat,'

אִי בָּעֵית אֵימָא ״שֶׁלֹּא אוֹכְלֶנָּה״.

if you want, say: 'that I will not eat it.'

אִיבָּעֵית אֵימָא ״שֶׁלֹּא אוֹכַל״ –

If you want, say: 'that I will not eat':

The steps (14)

  1. ChallengeWhy must a full olive-size piece be left?
  2. ResolutionTwo possible wordings of the oath
  3. ResolutionFirst wording: the last olive-size piece carries the first
  4. ResolutionSecond wording: less than an olive-size is too small to matter
  5. ChallengeChallenge: a finished נזירות vow can still be dissolved
  6. ResolutionThe נזיר had not yet brought his offerings
  7. ChallengeA teaching says even after offerings
  8. ResolutionHe had not yet shaved, following רבי אליעזר
  9. ChallengeA teaching says even after shaving
  10. Resolutionנזירות is different from oaths
  11. Statementאמימר: even after eating it all
  12. StatementToo late once tied for lashes, like שמואל
  13. RejectionBeing tied does not stop him from asking, because he did not run away
  14. StatementA conditional oath about two loaves: accident versus on purpose