The annulment of vows on Shabbat should be different TB Nedarim 77

Today’s daf TB Nedarim 77 begins with a Mishna from massekhet Shabbat teaching that a husband or father may dissolve a vow (hafarat nedarim -הפרת נדרים) on Shabbat. “We learned in a mishna elsewhere (Shabbat 157a): A father or husband may nullify his daughter’s or his wife’s vows on Shabbat” (Sefaria.org translation) We also know we treat Shabbat differently than a weekday. We make sure that the clothes we wear on Shabbat are nicer than the ones we wear on weekdays. We make sure that Shabbat meals are better than weekday meals. Ideally the words we say on Shabbat should be different, better, nicer, and involved with Torah study, than how we speak during the week. The Gemara makes the point that the words we choose to dissolve a vow Shabbat should also reflect the tenor of the day.

“A man should not say to his wife when nullifying her vows on Shabbat: It is nullified for you, or: It is canceled for you, in the manner that he would say to her on weekdays. Rather, he should say to her, if she took a vow to refrain from food or drink: Take this and eat it,or: Take this and drink it, and the vow is canceled on its own. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: And he must also cancel the vow in his heart (בְּלִבּוֹ); simply telling her to eat or drink is not sufficient.” (Sefaria.org translation) I would translate belibo (בְּלִבּוֹ) with intentionality. In other words he gives his wife the drink or food with the intention of annulling her vow.

There is a disagreement between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai concerning intentionality. “It is taught in a baraita: Beit Shammai say: On Shabbat he cancels the vow in his heart and on a weekday he articulates the nullification with his lips. And Beit Hillel say: Both in this case and in that case, i.e., whether on Shabbat or a weekday, it is sufficient if he cancels the vow in his heart, and he need not articulate with his lips.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Annulling the vow “in his heart” without saying so with words has no effect on the vow. The woman’s vow stands. However if he makes her do something that would annul the vow, for example the woman took a vow not to drink wine and the husband gives her a cup of wine and tells her to drink it with the intention to dissolve the vow belibo (בְּלִבּוֹ), the vow is annulled. The Rambam holds that the husband or father doesn’t have to say anything when he forces the woman to violate her vow. This demonstrates that he is annulling it. (Mishneh Torah,Oaths, the laws of vows, chapter 13, Halakha 4-8; Shulkhan Arukh, Yorh De’ah, 228: 38)