Study Nedarim folio 68A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
דבי רבי ישמעאל תנא: ״בין איש לאשתו בין אב לבתו״, מכאן לנערה המאורסה שאביה ובעלה מפירין נדריה. ולתנא דבי רבי ישמעאל, ״אם היו תהיה לאיש״ מאי עביד ליה?
The school of R' Yishmael taught a different source for the halakha in the Mishnah: The Torah states with regard to vows: “These are the statutes, which YHWH commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter, being in her youth, in her father’s house” (Numbers 30:17). From here it is derived with regard to a betrothed young woman that her father and her husband nullify her vows. The Talmud asks: And according to the tanna of the school of R' Yishmael, what does he do with the words “and if she be to a husband” (Numbers 30:7)?
מוקים לאידך דרבא. ורבא, האי דתני דבי רבי ישמעאל מאי עביד ליה? מיבעי ליה לומר שהבעל מיפר נדרים שבינו לבינה.
The Talmud answers: According to him, he establishes it to teach the other statement of Rava: If her betrothed died without ratifying the vow, her father can nullify it on his own. The Talmud then asks: And Rava, who derives the halakha that the father and the betrothed of the young woman together nullify her vows from the phrase “and if she be to a husband” (Numbers 30:7), what does he do with this verse that the school of R' Yishmael taught as the source for the father and the betrothed nullifying the young woman’s vows? The Talmud answers: He requires that phrase: “Between a man and his wife” (Numbers 30:17), in order to say that the husband can nullify only vows that are between him and her, i.e., vows that negatively impact their marital relationship, but he cannot nullify any other type of vow.
איבעיא להו: בעל מיגז גייז, או מקליש קליש? היכא קא מיבעיא לן: כגון דנדרה מתרין זיתין ושמע ארוס והיפר לה, ואכלתנון.
§ A dilemma was raised before the rabbis: If a husband nullifies his betrothed’s vow, does he sever his share of the vow or does he weaken the force of the entire vow? The Talmud clarifies: Under which circumstances do we raise the dilemma, i.e., what is the practical difference between these two possibilities? In a case where she vowed not to derive benefit from two olives, and her betrothed heard and nullified the vow for her, and she ate those two olives before her father nullified the vow, there is a practical difference.