Yerushalmi Nedarim 9:1 ירושלמי נדרים ט׳:א׳

MISHNAH: Rebbi Eliezer says, one opens¹If a person comes to a Sage to ask about a vow, the Sage may find him “an opening of remorse” by telling him that his parents must be ashamed that their son is one of the wicked who make vows (cf. Chapter 1, Note 9). for a man by the honor of his father and mother, but the Sages forbid it. Rebbi Ṣadoq said, before one opens by the honor of his father and mother one should open by the honor of the Omnipresent²Who in general does not approve of vows.; then there are no vows³If the Sage said, did you really want to make a vow to be called a sinner before God, everybody would say No, and every vow would be dissolved.. The Sages agree with Rebbi Eliezer that if was a matter between a man and his father and mother⁴For example, if the son forbade all usufruct from his property to his parents (Mat. 15:5), it is appropriate for the Sage to point out to the son that he sins against the commandment to honor father and mother., that one opens for him by the honor of his father and mother.

HALAKHAH: “Rebbi Eliezer says, one opens for a man,” etc. The rabbis say, a man resists the honor of his father and mother⁵It seems to be confirmed by the third sentence that one has to read “a man does not resist the honor of his parents.” This means that if the vower is told that his vow infringes on his duty to honor his parents, he immediately will agree to rescind the vow even though he has no remorse for making the vow. Then the annulment of the vow would be illegal.. Rebbi Eliezer says, sometimes he resists, sometimes he does not resist⁶Then it is not sure that the avowed remorse is faked.. Rebbi Eliezer agrees that after their death he does not resist⁷The Sage certainly cannot invoke the memory of his parents or that of his teacher.. Everybody agrees that nobody resists the honor of his teacher, as we stated⁸Mishnah Abot 4:15.: “And the fear of your teacher shall be like the fear of Heaven.”

“Then there are no vows.” Let there be no vows! But is it not written⁹Num. 30:2, the start of the chapter on vows.: “Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes.” He hung the chapter on the heads of the tribes, that they could dissolve their vows¹⁰Chapter 3:1, Note 6.. If you say so¹¹That there should be no vows., it turns out that you uproot the chapter of vows from the Torah.

Rebbi Jeremiah asked: Since you say, one opens for him by the honor of his father and mother; in things between him and the Omnipresent, one does not open for him by the honor of the Omnipresent¹²Since this is not mentioned in the Mishnah. Since “the Omnipresent” is a name of God, the scribe inserted an apostrophe to make a later correction or erasure possible.. But since in matters between him and his father and mother one opens for him by the honor of his father and mother; similarly, in things between him and the Omnipresent should one not open for him by the honor of the Omnipresent? What is the honor of the Omnipresent? For example, that I shall not make a tabernacle¹³Lev. 23:42., that I shall not take a lulab¹⁴One of the “four kinds”, Lev. 23:40., that I shall not put on phylacteries¹⁵Ex. 13:9,16.. One understands that he does it for his own benefit. As in the following¹⁶Job 35:7. The reward of good deeds is purely the benefit of the doer.: “If you are just, what are you giving Him?” “If you sinned, what would you do to Him?¹⁷Job 35:6. The mention of this verse and the sermon following are induced by the preceding quote.” Rebbi Yannai said, one who listens to his urges is as if he worshipped idols. What is the reason? “In yourself there shall be no alien force; do not bow down to a foreign god.¹⁸Ps. 81:10. The alien forces are the evil urges in a person; they are put in parallel with idol worship. In the Babli, Šabbat 105b, the statement is attributed to R. Abin.”

Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish provided an opening: If you had known that one who makes a vow is as if he put a neck-iron¹⁹Cf. Berakhot 7:5, Note 116. on his neck, would you have made the vow? It is as if a gang of prisoners²⁰Reading with Jastrow and Krauss קֻסְטוֹדִייָה for קֻסְטוֹרִייָה, Latin custodia “watch, guard; gang of prisoners”. was passing by, he saw that there was one unused neck-iron and put his head into it! “To bind a prohibition onto himself²¹Num. 30:3.”, as you say²²Jer. 40:1., “he was bound with chains.” Rebbi Jonathan²³In the Babli, 22a, R. Nathan. provided an opening: If you had known that one who makes a vow is like one who builds an idolatrous altar and one who continues in it is like one who sacrifices there, would you have made the vow? That is difficult to understand. Idolatry is a capital crime but vows are a simple prohibition; how can you say that? You have only what Rebbi Yannai said, one who listens to his urges is as if he worshipped idols. Rebbi Isaac provided an opening: If you had known that one who makes a vow is like one who takes a sword and sticks it in his heart, would you have made the vow? “Some talk bluntly like sword piercings.²⁴Prov. 12:18.” Rebbi Ḥanina from Sepphoris in the name of Rebbi Phineas: It does not say “piercing” but “sword piercings”. For example, one who made a vow not to eat a loaf. Woe if he eats, woe if he does not eat. If he eats he transgresses his vow. If he does not eat he sins against himself²⁵Since a person who mortifies himself is called a sinner, Sifry Num.30, Nazir 1:5 (51c, 1. 58).. What can he do? He goes to a Sage who will dissolve his vow, “but the speech of Sages is healing²⁴Prov. 12:18.. Rebbi Eudaimon in the name of Rebbi Isaac: Is it not enough what the Torah forbade you that you want to forbid other things for yourself? “To forbid a prohibition²¹Num. 30:3.”.

Rebbi Joḥanan provided an opening by having second thoughts: “If it were not for that, would he have come²⁶R. Joḥanan took the fact that a person came to him to ask about a vow as proof of repentance and dissolved the vow without further inquiry.?” Are second thoughts not something new²⁷In Mishnah 2, the Sages forbid to take future changes into consideration.? Rebbi Hila said, second thoughts are a common occurrence²⁸They are built into the original vow.. In this kind, Rebbi Simeon²⁹In the Babli, 22b, R. Simeon ben Rebbi. did not find an opening for his own vow until one of the Galilean Elders came; some say, that one was Rebbi Simeon ben Eleazar³⁰One of the students of R. Meïr.. He took him from here and put him there; he took him from here and put him there, until finally he put him into the sun and told him to check his garments for fleas. They said to him, if you had known that this old man would treat you in such a way, would you have made the vow? He said, No. He permitted him. They asked, from where do you have this? He said to them, I was Meïr’s servant both times when he fled³¹Most commentators want to read שנית “the second time” instead of שנים “twice” since the first time he had to flee was when he received ordination after the Bar Kokhba war when giving or receiving ordination was an act of rebellion against the Roman government and a capital crime. The reason for his second exile is not known; it is known that he died in Asia Minor (Kilaim 9:4, Note 128). If he left Galilee because Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel had excluded him from the Academy it was not “fleeing”. It is unlikely that (1) R. Meïr had a student with him when he fled the first time, and (2) that the same student would have been with him both in his youth and in his old age., but some say, Rebbi Meïr’s walking stick was in my hand and it teaches me knowledge.

Rebbi Jeremiah had his vow dissolved but kept it. Whether it was because he did not trust him who dissolved it³²He was worried that the opening which another rabbi found for him was really invalid and that the other invalidated the vow only to please the head of the Academy., we do not know. Whether it was because one has urges only for things forbidden to oneself³³The same argument in Yoma 6:4 (43c 1. 21)., we do not know. When Rebbi Jeremiah was not in the mood to judge, he said, my eyes are weak. “Following their pronouncements shall be all quarrels and all disfiguration³⁴Deut. 21:5..” This compares quarrels to disfigurations³⁵Different detailed discussions of this comparison are in the Babli, Sanhedrin 34b, and Sifry Deut. 208.. Since disfigurations are “for all the Cohen sees”³⁶Lev. 13:12., so also quarrels are “for all the Cohen sees”.

Rebbi Mana made a vow away from his father’s wine³⁷Not to have any benefit from his father’s wine. It seems that R. Mana here is R. Mana II, the colleague of R. Shammai. He was the son of R. Jonah; one has to wonder why the father appears without his name.. His father came to him and said to him, would you have made that vow if you had known that I am hurt by it? He said, no. He dissolved for him. Where do we hold? If he said, my benefit [is forbidden] to my father; is that not what Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa, Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman said in the name of Rebbi Jonathan: One forces the son to support his father³⁸This parallels Mishnah 12; a person cannot get rid of monetary obligations by making a vow. But even if R. Mana had forbidden his own wine on R. Jonah (which seems to be excluded by the formulation of the vow), the head of the Academy certainly could buy his own wine without taking from charity and forcing the overseers of charity to have regress on his son.. But we must hold that he said, my father’s benefit [is forbidden] to me. Rebbi Mana made a vow and came to Rebbi Shammai, who said to him, would you have made that vow if you had known that people do not want to deal with you since you are a vower? He said, no, and he dissolved for him.