I giuramenti sono due, che sono quattro: giuro che mangerò o che non mangerò [Questi sono i due che sono esplicitamente scritti. Cioè. (Levitico 5: 4): "fare del male o fare del bene", implicando in futuro: non mangerò—"fare del male"; Io mangerò—"fare il bene".]; (Giuro) di aver mangiato o di non aver mangiato [Questi sono i due aggiuntivi derivati dai saggi.] "Giuro che non mangerò", e ha mangiato qualsiasi quantità, è responsabile. Queste sono le parole di R. Akiva. Gli hanno chiesto: dove troviamo che chi mangia qualsiasi importo è responsabile, che questo dovrebbe essere responsabile! Ha risposto: E dove troviamo che chi parla porta un'offerta [per rompere la sua parola] che questo dovrebbe parlare e portare un'offerta! [E poiché è a causa della violazione della sua parola (che è responsabile), anche questo sta infrangendo la sua parola. Perché quando uno dice "Non mangerò", intende qualsiasi importo.] "Giuro che non mangerò", e mangiò e bevve, è responsabile solo per uno (offerta). [Anche se bere è incluso nel mangiare, è responsabile solo per uno, perché è come se mangiasse e mangiasse di nuovo, in un atto di dimenticanza.] "Giuro che non mangerò e che non berrò, "e ha mangiato e bevuto, è responsabile per due. [Ciò costituisce due giuramenti. E anche se quando diceva "Non mangerò", anche il bere (anche lui) gli era proibito, bere era incluso nel mangiare, così che quando poi disse "Non mangerò", c'è motivo di dire che un giuramento fa non "prendere" un altro (dello stesso tipo), qui è diverso. Perché da quando ha detto per la prima volta "Non mangerò", e poi "Non berrò", si manifesta che per "mangiare" intendeva mangiare da solo.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
שבועות שתים. שאוכל ושלא אוכל – these are the two which are explained, as it is written (Leviticus 5:4): “[Or when a man utters an oath] to bad or good purpose –[whatever a man may utter in an oath] that implies in the future, I will not eat for a bad purpose. I will eat for a good purpose.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Introduction
Our mishnah begins to discuss oaths, the main topic of the tractate. The oaths discussed in the beginning of this chapter are oaths of utterance, whereby one swears that he has or has not done something, or that he will or will not do something. One who breaks such an oath is liable for a sliding scale sacrifice, described in chapters one and two and in Leviticus 5:6-13.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
שאכלתי ושלא אכלתי – these are additional two from the exposition of the Sages.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Oaths are two, subdivided into four. “I swear I shall eat”, and “[I swear] I shall not eat”; “[I swear] I have eaten”, and “[I swear] I have not eaten”. The first line of this mishnah is a quote of the first mishnah of the tractate. After two chapters of digression, we return to the main topic at hand, oaths. Our mishnah lists all four types of oaths of utterance, two with regards to the past and two with regards to the future, two negative and two positive. Eating is just an example of a common oath. An oath can involve most types of actions.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
מדבר ומביא קרבן – because of the abrogation/nullification of his speech, and since it is because of the abrogation of his speech, even this is an abrogation of his speech for when he says: “I will not eat”, his intention is to prohibit himself from any amount.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
“I swear I shall not eat”, and he ate [even] a minute quantity, he is liable, the words of Rabbi Akiva. They [the Sages] said to Rabbi Akiva: “Where do we find that he who eats a minute quantity is liable, that this one should be liable?” Rabbi Akiba said to them: “But where do we find that he who [merely] speaks brings a sacrifice, that this one should bring a sacrifice?” According to Rabbi Akiva, one who swore not to eat and then ate is liable to bring a sacrifice even if he ate the most minute amount of food. The Sages raise a difficulty on this Rabbi Akiva’s position. Generally, a person is not obligated for having eaten a forbidden food unless he ate a minimum measure of the food, usually the size of an olive. Rabbi Akiva responds that we cannot compare the laws of oaths of utterance to any other laws, for an oath of utterance can obligate a person to bring a sacrifice of atonement just by his having said something. In all other realms of law in order to be liable to bring a sacrifice of atonement one has to actually perform a sin. Only with regards to oaths of utterance can a person merely retract on his words, and thereby be obligated for a sacrifice. Since the laws of oaths of utterance are already different, there is no room, according to Rabbi Akiva, to compare them to other laws.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
שבועה שלא אוכל ואכל ושתה – evn though that drinking is included with eating, he is not liable other than for one [sacrifice], for it is to him like eating and he goes back and eats in one act of forgetfulness [as the cause of the transgression].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
[If a man says,] “I swear I shall not eat” and he ate and drank, he is liable only once. “I swear I shall not eat and I shall not drink,” and he ate and drank, he is liable twice. This section deals with the question is drinking subsumed under the category of drinking. According to the mishnah, generally drinking is considered a form of eating and therefore, if after having sworn not to eat, he eats and drinks, he is liable for only one sacrifice. Drinking is considered a separate violation from eating only if he specifically swore not to eat or drink. In this case if he ate and drank he would be obligated to bring two sacrifices.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
שלא אוכל ושלא אשתה – these are two oaths to them. And even though when he stated “I will not eat,” he also forbids himself to drink, for drinking is included with eating, and he then retraced and stated: “and furthermore, I will not drink,” he should have said that an oath does not take effect on another oath, it is different here since he said at the outset [in the first part of the Mishnah], “I will not eat.” And then afterwards stated, “I will not drink,” he has revealed his intention that the “eating” that he stated at the outset [at the beginning of the Mishnah] was only for eating [and not anything else].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Questions for Further Thought: • What might be other reasons behind Rabbi Akiva’s opinion? • What would be the ruling if someone swore not to eat and then drank but did not eat? Would he be liable to bring a sacrifice for having violated his oath?
