Accidental
Vows - The Mishna discusses
accidental vows. For example, if someone says that he forbids himself from
something if he ate and drank that day and then he remembers that he in fact
did eat or drink. Another case is if someone says that he forbids himself from
something if he will eat or drink that day and then he forgets his vow and eats
or drinks. Similarly, if he forbids his wife from having benefit from him because
she stole his wallet or hit his son, and then he found out that these
allegations are untrue. Similarly, a person saw a group of people eating figs
and said that they are all like a korban to him (forbidden from having
benefit from him), and he later saw that his father and brothers were among
the group. Beis Shamai says: His relatives are permitted, and the others are
forbidden to him. Beis Hillel says: They are all permitted to him.
The
Ra”n explains: Beis Hillel’s reason is that a neder of which part of it
has been released is released entirely. This means that they are permitted even
without petitioning a sage. The reason is that since, had he known that his
father or his brothers were with him, he would have excluded them, he was
mistaken in the essence of the neder, because he never intended it to
apply to his father. And whenever there is a mistake in the essence of the neder,
his mouth and his heart are not equal, so it is automatically null. For this
reason, in the case of “Konam my wife to have benefit from me,” it is
required that he say explicitly “because she stole my wallet.” For if not, even
though his intention was because of that, since his intention was nonetheless
to make a neder against his wife, there is no mistake in the essence of
the neder. But here, where he never intended to make a neder
against this person, the neder is automatically null.
[We use the
sefer “The Commentary of Rabbenu Nissim on Nedarim” from Rabbi Nathan Bushwick
extensively to assist us in preparing the “Elucidation of the Ra”n.” The sefer,
written in English is available for sale by writing to: Rabbi Nathan Bushwick
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