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Shevuos 29a

שבועות כ״ט ע״א

Shevuot 29a

Learn Shevuos 29a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shevuos 29a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Overlapping oaths, the definition of שבועת שוא, and whether an oath follows the swearer's private meaning

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a case of two overlapping oaths. A man swore not to eat ten, then swore not to eat nine. He ate nine and brought a קרבן. After that, the tenth is only a חצי שיעור, so it carries no new קרבן. Then a new משנה defines a שבועת שוא, an empty oath. It covers swearing against an obvious fact, swearing about something impossible, and swearing not to testify or not to keep a מצוה. Taken on purpose, it earns מלקות. Taken by mistake, there is no penalty. In the גמרא, עולא says a fact counts as obvious once three people know it. אביי and רבא explain the odd wording 'if I did not see a flying camel.' רבינא then asks whether an oath follows the swearer's private meaning. Two proofs are pushed away: the court's warning before an oath, and משה's warning to ישראל. The גמרא ends by showing why משה needed to say whose meaning the oath followed.

Opening lines

וְאָכַל תְּאֵנִים וְהִפְרִישׁ קׇרְבָּן,

and he ate figs and set aside an offering,

וְאַחַר כָּךְ אָכַל עֲנָבִים לְחוֹדַיְיהוּ –

and afterward he ate grapes by themselves —

הָוְיָא לְהוּ עֲנָבִים חֲצִי שִׁיעוּר,

the grapes are a half-measure,

וְאַחֲצִי שִׁיעוּר לָא מִיחַיַּיב קׇרְבָּן.

and for a half-measure he is not liable to an offering.

The steps (32)

  1. ResolutionFigs, then grapes: only a half-measure is left
  2. ResolutionApplying the same logic to ten and nine
  3. StatementNew משנה: what is a שבועת שוא? Swearing against known facts
  4. StatementSecond kind: swearing about something impossible
  5. StatementWitnesses who swear not to testify
  6. StatementSwearing not to do a מצוה
  7. ConclusionThe punishment for a שבועת שוא
  8. StatementTwo clashing oaths about one loaf
  9. StatementEither way, he breaks one oath
  10. Statementעולא: 'known to all' means known to three people
  11. QuestionWhy does the משנה say 'if I did not see'?
  12. Responseאביי: read it as 'an oath that I saw'
  13. Responseרבא: it is the end of a longer vow
  14. ChallengeMaybe he calls a big bird a 'camel'
  15. ProofProof from the court's warning before an oath
  16. RejectionNo, the warning is about רבא's cane trick
  17. ProofProof from משה's oath to ישראל
  18. RejectionThe word 'God' itself can mean an idol
  19. ChallengeWhy not just say 'keep the Torah'?
  20. ResolutionThat could mean only one Torah
  21. ChallengeThen say 'keep two Torahs'
  22. Resolution'Torah' can mean a single set of laws
  23. ChallengeThen say 'keep the entire Torah'
  24. Resolution'The entire Torah' could mean just the ban on idols
  25. ChallengeThen say 'keep the מצוה'
  26. ResolutionThat is only one מצוה
  27. ChallengeThen say 'keep מצוות'
  28. ResolutionPlural could mean just two
  29. ChallengeThen say 'all the מצוות'
  30. Resolution'All the מצוות' could mean ציצית
  31. ChallengeThen say 'keep 613 מצוות'
  32. ResolutionBy that logic, 'by my meaning' would be enough