Nedarim 66 - December 30, 6 Tevet - a podcast by Michelle Cohen Farber

Today's daf is sponsored by Hannah Pasternak-Shames in honor of her sister Sarah. “She has been studying the daf since Brachot 2. Wishing her a happy birthday!”

If one vowed against a food or drink, a petach can be made regarding Shabbat and Yom Tov, such as, had I realized I would have to keep the vow also on those days, I never would have made the vow, then it can be dissolved specifically for those days. However, Rabbi Akiva ruled that once it is partially dissolved, the whole vow is dissolved. A number of examples are brought to illustrate cases in which this principle applies. The Mishna differentiated between a case where one vowed with a separate vow term (karban) against a group of people (each vow needs to be dissolved separately) and when one vowed against a group of people as a group (if one dissolved the vow partially, it is entirely dissolved). Which tannatic opinion does this follow? Another option of a petach is if one vowed against his wife and therefore he would need to divorce her. If he claims he didn't realize that it would affect the way people looked at him or his children, he can dissolve the vow on those grounds. A vow that was a mistake, such as vowing not to marry a woman because she is ugly, but it turned out that she was beautiful, there is no need even to dissolve the vow as it is not a vow. A story is told of Rabbi Yishmael who took a woman in a situation like this and made her beautiful so that the man would marry her. He believed that all women are beautiful and that poverty made them seem ugly. When he died, the woman of Israel sang a lamentation for him. Does the story of Rabbi Yishmael contradict the halacha in the Mishna? A number of different stories are brought of men who vowed against their wives if they did not do something either humiliating to them in front of rabbis or humiliating to the rabbis. In each of the cases, the rabbis acted humbly in order to rectify a situation of shalom bayit, relationship between husband and wife.

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