Commentary for Nedarim 7:7

קונם מעשה ידיך עלי – he forbade all of what she does and what she prepares for him. And if she planted a tree, its growth is prohibited.

Introduction This mishnah continues to teach when things which were exchanged for or grown from things prohibited by vow remain prohibited. The mishnah began to discuss this topic yesterday, and mishnah seven is largely the same as mishnah six. The difference is that today’s mishnah deals with the handiwork of a wife, which we learned in Ketuboth, belong to her husband. The husband can say that anything that she makes is “Konam”, i.e. prohibited to him.

If one says to his wife, “Konam be the work of your hands to me,” or ”Konam be they for my mouth, or “Konam be they to my mouth”, he is forbidden that which is exchanged for them or grown from them. Since in this case he has prohibited upon himself anything that is a result of what his wife does, he may not benefit even from what is exchanged for his wife’s handiwork, or what grows from it. “What grows from it” would refer to a case where she planted a tree. He may not benefit from the tree itself, nor from any trees that come from seeds produced by this tree.

[If he says “Konam] if I eat or taste [of what they produce],” he is permitted [to benefit] from what is exchanged for them or what grows of them, if it is a thing of which the seed itself perishes, but if the seed does not perish, even that which grows out of that which [first] grew from it is forbidden. In this case, he has prohibited upon himself only the food that his wife makes for him (I’m sure she will be quite insulted!). Therefore he may sell things that his wife makes for him and then use them to buy other things or he may use things grown from things his wife has made. Again, this is only true if there is nothing actually left over from the original; if the seed of the originally prohibited object still remains, the prohibition remains, as we explained yesterday.