Study Nedarim folio 79A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
שהשתיקה מקיימת, ואין שתיקה מבטלת. קיים בלבו — קיים, הפר בלבו — אינו מופר. קיים — אין יכול להפר, הפר — אין יכול לקיים. קתני: שהשתיקה מקיימת, מאי לאו בשותק על מנת למיקט?
that silence ratifies a vow, but silence does not cancel, i.e., nullify, a vow. If the husband ratified a vow in his heart, it is ratified, but if he nullified it in his heart, it is not nullified. The baraita adds: If he ratified a vow he can no longer nullify it; and similarly, if he nullified a vow he can no longer ratify it. In any case, the baraita teaches that silence ratifies a vow. What, is it not referring even to one who is silent in order to annoy his wife?
לא, בשותק על מנת לקיים. היינו: קיים בלבו קיים! אלא בשותק סתם.
The Talmud rejects this interpretation: No, it is referring to one who is silent in order to sustain the vow. The Talmud asks: If so, this is the same as: If the husband ratified a vow in his heart, it is ratified. Rather, the phrase in the baraita: Silence ratifies a vow, is referring to a case where the husband is silent without specifying his intent.
אשכחן חומר בהקם מבהפר, בהפר מבהקם מנא לן? אמר רבי יוחנן: נשאלין על ההקם, ואין נשאלין על ההפר.
Relating to the baraita, the Talmud asks: We found how the halakha is more stringent in ratification of vows than in nullification of vows, but where do we find a case in which the halakha is more stringent in nullification than in ratification? R' Yoḥanan says: One can request from a halakhic authority dissolution of the ratification of a vow his wife took, but one cannot request dissolution of the nullification of a vow.
מתיב רב כהנא: ״ואם החרש יחריש לה אישה וגו׳״, בשותק על מנת למיקט הכתוב מדבר. אתה אומר בשותק על מנת למיקט, או אינו אלא בשותק על מנת לקיים?
Rav Kahana raised an objection to the opinion of R' Ḥanina that a husband who is silent about his wife’s vow in order to annoy her can nullify it even several days later. A baraita teaches: “But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day, then he causes all her vows to be ratified” (Numbers 30:15). The verse is speaking of one who is silent in order to annoy his wife. Do you say that the verse is referring to one who is silent in order to annoy her, or it is referring only to one who is silent in order to ratify the vow?