Nedarim 39

<big><strong>מתני׳</strong></big> נדר בחרם ואמר לא נדרתי אלא בחרמו של ים בקרבן ואמר לא נדרתי אלא בקרבנות של מלכים

<b><i>MISHNAH</i></b>. IF ONE VIEWS BY HEREM,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Viz., 'This be herem unto me'. ');">¹</span> AND THEN SAYS, 'I VOWED ONLY BY A FISHING NET',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Herem meaning net too; i.e., 'I did not vow at all'. ');">²</span>

הרי עצמי קרבן ואמר לא נדרתי אלא בעצם שהנחתי לי להיות נודר בו: קונם אשתי נהנית לי ואמר לא נדרתי אלא באשתי הראשונה שגירשתי

BY KORBAN, AND THEN SAYS, I VOWED ONLY BY ROYAL GIFTS',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Korban meaning an offering, and hence applicable to gifts or tribute to the king. ');">³</span> [IF HE SAYS] BEHOLD! [I MYSELF] 'AZMI BE A KORBAN',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Implying that he had consecrated himself to the Lord and needed redemption; v. Lev. XXVII, 1-8. (Rashi). [Or: May I myself be forbidden to you as korban (Ran).] ');">⁴</span>

על כולן אין נשאלין להם ואם נשאלו עונשין אותן ומחמירין עליהן דברי רבי מאיר

AND THEN STATES. 'I VOWED ONLY BY THE EZEM [BONE] WHICH I KEEP FOR THE PURPOSE OF VOWING';<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [In order to give the impression to the hearer that I am making a vow.] ');">⁵</span> [IF ONE SAYS,] 'KONAM BE ANY BENEFIT MY WIFE HAS OF ME, AND THEN DECLARES, I SPOKE ONLY OF MY FIRST WIFE, WHOM I HAVE DIVORCED (IF NONE OF THESE [VOWS] DO THEY REQUIRE TO SEEK ABSOLUTION.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Being invalid, according to the meaning assigned to them. ');">⁶</span>

וחכמים אומרים פותחין להן פתח ממקום אחר ומלמדין אותן כדי שלא ינהגו קלות ראש בנדרים:

BUT IF A REQUEST FOR ABSOLUTION IS PREFERRED, THEY ARE PUNISHED AND TREATED STRICTLY: THIS IS THE VIEW OF R. MEIR, BUT THE SAGES SAY: THEY ARE GIVEN AN OPENING [FOR REGRET] (IN OTHER GROUNDS.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'from another place'. I.e., they cannot obtain absolution on the plea that thy had attached an unusual significance to their words, for the phrase cf. supra 13b. ');">⁷</span> AND THEY ARE ADMONISHED SO THAT THEY DO NOT TREAT VOWS WITH LEVITY.

<big><strong>גמ׳</strong></big> הא גופא קשיא אמרת אין נשאלין להן והדר תני אם נשאלו עונשין אותן ומחמירין עליהן

<b><i>GEMARA</i></b>. This is self-contradictory: You say, OF NONE OF THESE VOWS DO THEY REQUIRE TO SEEK ABSOLUTION; and then you continue: IF A REQUEST FOR ABSOLUTION IS PREFERRED, THEY ARE PUNISHED AND TREATED STRICTLY?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The first implies that they are altogether invalid, whereas the second implies that they are valid vows. ');">⁸</span> — Said Rab Judah, This is its meaning; OF NONE OF THESE VOWS DO THEY REQUIRE TO SEEK ABSOLUTION. This applies however only to a scholar;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who is careful about making vows. ');">⁹</span>

אמר רב יהודה הכי קתני וכולן אין צריכין שאלה במה דברים אמורים בתלמיד חכם אבל בעם הארץ שבא לישאל עונשין אותו ומחמירין עליו

and when 'am ha-arez<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Glos. ');">¹⁰</span> applies for absolution, he is punished and treated strictly. Now 'TREATED STRICTLY' is well: it means that we do not suggest an opening for regret.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' When one desired absolution, the Rabbi usually suggested grounds for granting it; here, however, such aid was to be withheld. ');">¹¹</span>

בשלמא מחמירין דלא פתחינן ליה בחרטה אלא עונשין היכי דמי

But how are they punished? — As it was taught: If one vowed neziroth and then violated his vow: his case is not examined unless he observes his vow for the full period that he had violated it: this is the view of R. Judah. R. Jose said: This applies only to short neziroth [i.e., thirty days]; but in the case of a long period of neziroth, thirty days are sufficient.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g., if he had vowed to be a nazir a hundred days, violated his vow for fifty days, and then desired absolution, it is enough to observe thirty days only, and then he is absolved. Here too he is punished in this way. ');">¹²</span> R. Joseph said: Since the Rabbis have decreed, his case is not to be examined, if a <i>Beth din</i><span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'house of law': Jewish court of law. Any three persons could constitute themselves a Beth din, by request, and it is to such a constituted body of laymen that this dictum probably refers. [Absolution could he granted either by one Rabbi or by three laymen; infra.] ');">¹³</span>

כדתניא מי שנזר ועבר על נזירותו אין נזקקין לו עד שינהוג בו איסור כימים שנהג בהן היתר דברי רבי יהודה אמר רבי יוסי במה דברים אמורים בנזירות מועטת אבל בנזירות מרובה דיו שלושים יום

does attend to it [before time], it does not act right [and must be reprimanded]. R. Aha b. Jacob said: It is banned.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' On the term used shamta, v. supra p. 17, n. 2. ');">¹⁴</span> BUT THE SAGES SAY: THEY ARE GIVEN AN OPENING [FOR] REGRET etc. It was taught: Never make a practice of vowing, for ultimately you will trespass in the matter of oaths,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which are more stringent. ');">¹⁵</span>

אמר רב יוסף הואיל ואמרי רבנן אין נזקקים לו בי דינא דמזדקקי לא עביד שפיר רב אחא בר יעקב אומר משמתינן ליה:

and do not frequent an 'am ha-arez, for eventually he will give you tebalim;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Tebel, pl. tebalim, produce from which no tithes have been set aside. ');">¹⁶</span> and do not associate with a priest, an 'am ha-arez, for ultimately he will give you <i>terumah</i> to eat;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' According to this reading the exhortation is to a zar. The Ran however reads: 'unclean terumah', which was forbidden even to a priest, in which case the exhortation is to a priest. ');">¹⁷</span>

וחכמים אומרים פותחין לו פתח כו': תנא לעולם אל תהי רגיל בנדרים שסופך למעול בשבועות ואל תהי רגיל אצל עם הארץ שסופך להאכילך טבלים אל תהי רגיל אצל כהן עם הארץ שסופך להאכילך תרומה ואל תרבה שיחה עם האשה שסופך לבוא לידי ניאוף

and do not converse much with women, as this will ultimately lead you to unchastity.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The present statement is not meant to be derogatory to women, who were held in high esteem, but conditioned by the prevailing laxity in sexual matters which characterised many of the ancient peoples. V. Herford Talmud and Apocrypha, pp. 163ff. ');">¹⁸</span> R. Aha of the school of<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Berabbi or Beribbi is a contraction of Be Rab, belonging to the school of an eminent teacher (Jast.). ');">¹⁹</span>

רבי אחא ברבי יאשיה אומר כל הצופה בנשים סופו בא לידי עבירה וכל המסתכל בעקבה של אשה הויין לו בנים שאינן מהוגנין אמר רב יוסף ובאשתו נדה אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש עקבה דקתני במקום הטינופת שהוא מכוון כנגד העקב

R. Josiah said: He who gazes at a woman eventually comes to sin, and he who looks even at a woman's heel will beget degenerate children. R. Joseph said: This applies even to one's own wife when she is a <i>niddah</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A woman during her period of menstruation and seven days following. ');">²⁰</span> R. Simeon b. Lakish said: 'Heel' that is stated means the unclean part, which is directly opposite the heel.

תניא בעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם זו בושה לבלתי תחטאו מלמד שהבושה מביאה לידי יראת חטא מיכן אמרו סימן יפה באדם שהוא ביישן אחרים אומרים כל אדם המתבייש לא במהרה הוא חוטא ומי שאין לו בושת פנים בידוע שלא עמדו אבותיו על הר סיני

It was taught: [And Moses said unto the people, fear not: for God is come to prove you,] that his fear may be before your faces:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XX, 17. ');">²¹</span> By this is meant shamefacedness; that ye sin not<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. ');">²²</span>

אמר רבי יוחנן בן דהבאי ארבעה דברים סחו לי מלאכי השרת חיגרין מפני מה הויין מפני שהופכים את שולחנם אילמים מפני מה הויין מפני שמנשקים על אותו מקום חרשים מפני מה הויין מפני שמספרים בשעת תשמיש סומין מפני מה הויין מפני שמסתכלים באותו מקום

— this teaches that shamefacedness leads to fear of sin: hence it was said<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This indicates a very ancient tradition; v. Frankel, Z.: Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 305; Bacher, Tradition und Tradenten, pp. 160, 171 seqq. ');">²³</span> that it is a good sign if a man is shamefaced.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. Yeb. 79a, where a sense of shame is said to be one of the characteristics of the Jew; also Ab. V, 20, where 'shamefacedness' is contrasted with 'bold-facedness', i.e., impudence or insolence. ');">²⁴</span>

ורמינהו שאלו את אימא שלום מפני מה

Others say: No man who experiences shame<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., who is not hardened or callous, but feels humiliated when he does wrong. ');">²⁵</span> will easily sin; and he who is not shamefaced — it is certain that his ancestors were not present at Mount Sinai. R. Johanan b. Dahabai said: The Ministering Angels told me four things: People are born lame because they [sc. their parents] overturned their table [i.e., practised unnatural cohabitation]; dumb, because they kiss 'that place'; deaf, because they converse during cohabitation; blind, because they look at 'that place'. But this contradicts the following: Imma Shalom<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The wife of R. Eliezer b. Hyrkanos, a sister of Gamaliel II. ');">²⁶</span> was asked: Why are