Yerushalmi Nedarim 2:4 ירושלמי נדרים ב׳:ד׳

MISHNAH: Indeterminate oaths are interpreted restrictively and explicit ones liberally. How is this? If one said, this is for me like salted meat⁴⁷I. e., a sacrifice (Lev. 2:13)., like libation wine⁴⁸Num. 15:1–13., if his intent was for Heaven, he is forbidden, if for idolatry, he is permitted⁴⁹Since everything destined for idolatrous worship is forbidden for any use, it cannot become qorbān., if indeterminate⁵⁰If the person making the vow had nothing special in mind, his words have to be interpreted as referring to an instance which makes his vow valid. he is forbidden. This is for me like a ban, if by a ban for Heaven⁵¹A gift to the Temple which is forbidden for any use until redeemed from the Temple treasury., he is forbidden, if priest’s⁵²Bans given to priests become their fully profane private property, not restricted in any way. A referral to such bans cannot prohibit., he is permitted, if indeterminate he is forbidden. This is for me like tithe, if animal tithe, he is forbidden⁵³Animal tithe is automatically a sacrifice which does not need dedication (Lev. 27:32); it is qorbān., if from grain, he is permitted⁵⁴Tithe from which its heave was separated is totally profane in the Levite’s hand., if indeterminate he is forbidden. This is for me like heave, if Temple heave⁵⁵The half-šeqel yearly Temple tax which was used to buy public sacrifices; cf. Mishnah Šeqalim 3:1., he is forbidden, if heave from the threshing floor, he is permitted⁵⁶Since heave is private property of the receiving Cohen; cf. Note 8., if indeterminate he is forbidden, the words of Rebbi Meїr. But the Sages say, indeterminate heave in Judea is prohibited, in Galilee permitted, since Galileans do not know of Temple heave⁵⁷The Temple tax there was never known as “Temple heave” but as “half-šeqel.. Indeterminate bans in Judea are permitted, in Galilee prohibited, since Galileans do not know of priest’s bans⁵⁸They know bans only as expression of total prohibitions for everybody..

HALAKHAH: “Indeterminate oaths are interpreted restrictively,” etc. ⁵⁹This paragraph is a copy of the parallel in Halakhah 6:3, where the question is what a person forbids to himself if he vows not to eat salted meat. They wanted to say, salted for preservation⁶⁰Salted meat than can be stored a long time (without refrigeration)., not short-term salted. Rebbi Yudan said, since we have stated: “this is for me like salted meat⁶¹As explained in the baraita, that is meat dipped twice in salt., like libation wine,” this imples that short-term salted is called “salted”. What is short-term salted? As it was stated: “He puts the limbs on the salt and turns them over.” Rebbi Abba Mari said, there is a difference, for if he leaves them there, they become salted meat⁶²Taking a piece of meat, putting it into a large vessel full of salt, turning it over there, and not washing the salt off, makes the meat much more salty than salting for immediate consumption. In the parallel in the Babli, Menaḥot 21a: “He puts salt on the limb, turns it over, and puts salt on the other side”.. But which text says it? As Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said, “one who takes olives from the vat dips each single one in salt and eats it⁶³Mishnah Ma‘serot 4:3 (Notes 50,51) speaking about the agricultural worker who may eat untithed olives during the harvest..” That implies that short-term salted is called “salted”.

“This is for me like heave, if Temple heave, he is forbidden,” therefore ‘heave of thanksgiving’ is permitted. “If heave from the threshing floor, he is permitted,” therefore ‘heave of thanksgiving’ is forbidden. Here you say, forbidden; there, you say, permitted. Let us hear from the following: “Like Aaron’s ḥallah and his heave” is permitted, therefore ‘heave of thanksgiving’ is forbidden⁶⁵A thanksgiving sacrifice (Lev. 7:11–14) needs a concurrent gift of 40 loaves, of which 4 are given to the officiating priest as heave (v. 14). This is a heave not mentioned in the Mishnah. Since Mishnah 1 notes only agricultural heave as not subject to vows, it follows that any accessory to a sacrifice must be vowed together with the sacrifice and, therefore, can represent a vow. The Babli, 12a/b, comes to the same conclusion by a very involved argument..

“But the Sages say, indeterminate heave in Judea is prohibited, in Galilee permitted, since Galileans do not know of Temple heave.” But if they did know it, the indeterminate would be forbidden⁶⁶The meaning of vows has to be determined by popular usage. Since learned people are not supposed to make vows, it is clear that the interpretation of vows depends on the meaning of the words in the vernacular, independent of the place where the vow was made.. “Indeterminate bans in Judea are permitted, in Galilee prohibited, since Galileans do not know of priest’s bans.” But if they did know it, the indeterminate would be permitted. Here you say permitted, but there you say forbidden⁶⁷This is an attempt to explain the rules in legal terminology, without appeal to the vernacular. The indeterminate vow would be a case of doubt; in one case one rules that doubt removes the vow, in the other that it confirms the vow. This is the attitude of the Babli, 19b.. Rebbi Eleazar says, these are statements of two Tannaïm⁶⁸This is the solution of the Babli and Tosephta 1:6 which ascribe the statement on bans to R. Eleazar ben R. Ṣadoq. This solution is appropriate for the Yerushalmi, the Munich and Cambridge mss. of the Babli, and the quotes in many Medieval authors, which ascribe both statements to “the Sages” who would be free to rule in one case with R. Jehudah and in the other with R. Eleazar ben R. Ṣadoq. But in the printed Babli which, together with most independent Mishnah mss., attributes the statement of the Sages to R. Jehudah, the two-Tanna solution, rejected in the Yerushalmi but given in the Babli in the name of the Fourth Century Amora Abbai, is rather forced.. Rebbi Jeremiah said, all is from one Tanna, following the one who said⁶⁹Mishnah Arakhin 8:6, opinion of R. Jehudah ben Bathyra.: “indeterminate bans are for the upkeep of the Temple.” But for the one who said⁷⁰The anonymous Sages. The Babli, Arakhin 29a, states that in the absence of a Temple, bans for the upkeep of the Temple can be redeemed by pennies., “indeterminate bans are for priests,” even in Galilee they would be permitted. In Galilee where they are used to invoke Akhan’s ban⁷¹Jos. 7:25–26, the expression of an absolute and irredeemable prohibition of all use., you have to say forbidden; in Judea where they are not used to invoke Akhan’s ban, you have to say permitted.