Positive Commandment 95 (Digest)
The Nullification of Vows
We are commanded to practice the Torah-mandated procedure in the event that a vow is to be annulled.
(This commandment is somewhat based on the verse [Numbers 30:3] "he shall not profane his word," from which the Sages deduce that the one who enacted the vow may not profane his own word, but others – such as a sage or rabbinical court – may do so. Nevertheless, the Talmud says that the "annulment of vows flies in the air, with no [explicit biblical] support...")
The Torah explicitly tells us that a husband and father can nullify vows, and tradition teaches that a sage, too, has the power to do so.
The
95th mitzvah is that we are commanded
regarding the annulment of vows.
This
does not mean that there is a commandment to annul vows, but rather that there
are certain laws to be followed when doing so. You should keep this principle
in mind whenever a mitzvah is
enumerated — it does not necessarily mean that we are commanded to perform a
certain action, but rather that a certain case [whenever it comes up,] must be
judged according to certain laws.
The
annulment of vows done by a father [to his daughter] and a husband [to his
wife] is explained in the Torah in detail.
Furthermore,
we know from the Oral Tradition that a Torah scholar can nullify anyone's vow
or oath. This is hinted to in the verse, "He must not nullify his word." [The Sages explain,] "He may not nullify his word, but
others may nullify it for him." The final conclusion is that there is no real
source in Scripture [for the Torah scholar's power to annul a vow, and the
verse quoted above is only a hint]. As our Sages put it, "The laws regarding the annulment of
vows [by a Torah scholar] are flying in the air, with nothing to support them"
— except in the Oral Tradition.
The
details of this mitzvah are found in
the tractate devoted to this subject, tractate Nedarim.
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