"Vows of exaggeration" [hyperbole, where he himself knows that it is not so]: If he said: "Konam, if I did not see on this road as many as left Egypt," "if I did not see a serpent as (thick as) the beam of the olive press." "Vows of unwittingness": If he said: "Konam, [this loaf to me] if I have eaten or if I have drunk," and he remembered that he had eaten or drunk [and at the time of the vow he thought he had not eaten or drunk, it is no vow.] If he said "Konam, if I eat or drink (from you)," and he forgot and ate or drank, (it is no vow) [for at the time when the vow was to have "taken," the time of eating or drinking, he had forgotten the vow, so that it is permitted. This is derived from oaths, where it is written (Leviticus 5:4): "a man with an oath," it being required that he be "a man" at the time the oath is to take effect; that is, that he be conscious of the oath. And the same applies to vows.] (If he said:) "Konam, my wife from benefitting from me because she stole my purse" or "because she beat my son," and he discovered that she had not stolen it or beaten him, [these are unwitting vows, for discovering that she did not steal it cancels the vow retroactively]. If he saw people eating figs, and he said: "Let them be forbidden to you as korban," and then he found that they (the eaters) were his father and mother, and others with them — Beth Shammai say: They (his parents) are permitted, and those with them, forbidden. And Beth Hillel say: Both are permitted. [For "a vow that is partially voided is entirely voided," the vower desiring that the vow "take" as he vowed it; and since part of it was unwitting, it is entirely void.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Nedarim
נדרי הבאי – exaggeration and additional speech, but he himself knows that it was not the case.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Nedarim
Introduction
The first section of the mishnah illustrates vows of exaggeration and the second illustrates vows that were made in error.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Nedarim
קונם אם לא ראיתי – KONAM upon me this loaf of bread if I did no see, etc. (i.e., a snake as s big as the beam of an olive press).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Nedarim
Vows of exaggeration: If one says, “Konam if I did not see on this road as many as departed from Egypt”; “If I did not see a snake [as thick as the] the beam of an olive press. Vows of exaggeration need not be kept, because the person did not really intend to take a vow. His only intention was to exaggerate.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Nedarim
נדרי שגגות – he said, KONAM upon me this loaf of bread.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Nedarim
Vows in error: [If one says, “Konam,] if I ate or drank”, and then remembered that he had; “If I eat or drink” and then forgot [his vow] and ate or drank; “Konam be any benefit which my wife has from me, because she stole my purse or beat my child, and it was subsequently learnt that she had not beaten him nor stolen”; If one saw people eating [his] figs and said to them, “Let the figs be a korban to you,” and then discovered the people to be his father or his brothers. If others were with them: (1) Beth Shammai says: his father and brothers are permitted, but the rest are forbidden. (2) Beth Hillel says: all are permitted. This section teaches the important principle that vows made in error are invalid, and that a person has not broken his vow if he broke it in error. Furthermore, vows made based on false assumptions, such as that one’s wife stole something or beat one’s child, or the false presumption that people eating one’s figs should not be eating them, are also invalid. The final question in the mishnah is whether or not a vow can be half-valid, in other words valid with regard to some people and invalid with regard to others. In the case of the figs, both Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel agree that the brothers and father can eat, because the person who vowed intended to prohibit the figs only to strangers. However, Beth Shammai holds that the figs are prohibited to others who are there eating with them. Beth Hillel holds that since part of the vow isn’t valid, the whole vow is invalid.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Nedarim
אם אכלתי אם שתיתי ונזכר שאכל ושתה – and at the time of the vow he thought that he did not eat and did not drink, it would not be a vow.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Nedarim
קונם שאיני אוכלך לך ואיני שותה, ושכח ואכל ושתה – that at the time that the vow takes place which is at the time of eating and/or drinking, he forgot the vow, it is permitted/annulled, as we derive it from an oath as it is written (Leviticus 5:4): “[Or when a person uttes an oath to bad or good purpose –] whatever a man may utter in an oath – [and though he has known it, the fact has escaped him, but later he realizes his guilt in any of these matters -]” that we require that he will be a man at the time when the oath takes place upon him, meaning to say, that he will be mindful from the oath, and the same law applies with regard to a vow.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Nedarim
קונם אשתי נהנית לי שגנבה את כיסו – these are vows made in error, for since it became known that she did not steal from him, it is found that there was no vow.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Nedarim
אלו ואלו מותרין – for a vow that was partially permitted is completely permitted, for he does not want that his vow would take place, but rather, similar to that he made the vow, and since part of it was in made inadvertently in error, all of it is nullified.
