With today’s daf TB Nedarim 64 we begin chapter nine in our massekhet. We leave behind the discussion on the precise meaning of words in vows and start learning how a person can extricate himself from his vow. A petakh (פֶּתַּח) is the justification by which a Sage rabbinic court annuls a vow in a case where the one who vowed expresses regret having done so by saying he/she didn’t fully appreciate its implications.
Rabbi Eliezer and the sages
disagree about nolad (נּוֹלָד), an unexpected new circumstance that the
one who made the vow now regrets it. “And Rabbi Eliezer further said: They may broach
dissolution by asking about a new situation, but the Rabbis prohibit
it. How might they broach dissolution by asking about a new situation? …If
one said: Entering this house is konam for me, and that
house became a synagogue, and he said: Had I known that it would
become a synagogue, I would not have vowed, in this and all such cases Rabbi
Eliezer permits the halakhic authority to use this as a basis for the dissolution
of the vow, and the Rabbis prohibit it.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Rav Ḥisda
provides the scriptural proof for Rabbi Eliezer’s position. “Rav Ḥisda said: For the verse states that God
told Moses he could return to Egypt
from Midian, despite having vowed
to Yitro that he would not do so: “For
all the men are dead that sought your life” (Exodus 4:19), and he took the vow only because it
would be dangerous for him to return to Egypt. The Gemara explains the proof: But
death is a new circumstance, and Moses’
vow was dissolved based on the men dying. Therefore, it can be understood from
here that they may broach dissolution by asking about a
new situation.” (Sefaria.org translation)
We begin the book of Exodus
in three weeks and learn about Moses’ early life. Here are the rest of the
details that the Gemara takes for granted that you already know. Moses protects
an Israelite slave by killing an Egyptian taskmaster. Fearing for his life,
Moses flees to Midian. There he meets his future wife by the well, marries her,
and works as his father-in-law’s shepherd. According to the Gemara daf TB Nedarim 65a his father-in-law
Yitro insisted that Moses swear to him that he would never leave without his
permission (based on Exodus 2:21). God spoke to Moses out of a burning bush
that was not consumed sending him to free the Israelite slaves out of the land
of Egypt.
Now we understand the petakh God supplied Moses to extricate
him from his vow. “For all the men are dead that sought your life.” Their death
is the new circumstances by which Moses’ vow is dissolved. There is one slight
problem. Tradition identifies these men as Datan and Aviram, fellow Israelites,
who actually died much later in the wilderness during Korakh’s rebellion. They
were not dead when God spoke to Moses. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi provides a new
understanding to what death encompasses that supports Rabbi Eliezer’s position.
“Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said:… And
it was taught in a baraita: Four are considered as if they
were dead: A pauper, and a leper, and a blind person, and one who has
no children. A pauper, as it is written: “For all the men are dead” (Exodus 4:19). As explained
above, they were not actually dead but had descended into poverty, and yet they
were considered dead.” Datan and Aviram lost all their possessions and their
status in the community. Consequently they were dead men walking.
The Ron ד"ה ירושלמי cites the Yerushalmi to explain the rabbis’
position why death cannot be considered a new circumstance. “Isn’t death a new
circumstance (for those who know Hebrew this turn of the phrase is delicious-וְהָא מִיתָה דְּנוֹלָד הוּא)” Rabbi Zeira
said both poverty and death are too common to be considered new circumstances.”
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