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Week 74 - Sunday - 22 April 2001

NEDARIM: CHAPTER 11: MISHNAH 12

At first they used to say, Three women leave and take their ketubah: one who says, "I am impure to you," "Heaven is between me and you, "I am removed from the Jews." They later retracted, lest a woman set her eyes on another and behave immorally towards her husband. But if she says, "I am impure to you," she must bring proof for her words; "Heaven is between me and you," they must plead with her; "I am removed from the Jews" - he may revoke his part, and she may cohabit with him, and she may be removed from the Jews.

Kehati

At first they - the Sages, used to say, Three women - who are listed below, leave and take their ketubah: i.e., the husband must divorce them and pay them the money written in their ketubah, and these are they:

1. One who says, "I am impure to you" - The Gemara explains that this refers to the wife of a kohen who said to her husband, "I was raped"; and she is therefore forbidden to her husband (for if the wife of an Israelite was raped, she is permitted to her husband, and if she cohabited willingly, then she does not receive the sum of her ketubah). In such a case her husband the kohen must divorce her, and he is obligated to give her the sum in her ketubah, for she could have said, "The field of my husband the kohen was swept away by floods," i.e., the sanctity of his priesthood is the cause of my being prohibited to him, and I should not lose the ketubah because of this;
2.The woman who says, "Heaven is between me and you" - she raised complaints against her husband in matters of mutual relationship e.g., that he is impotent and is incapable of begetting children; and the wording, "Heaven is between me and you" means the One who sits in Heaven knows what is between me and you. According to another interpretation, the distance between me and you in personal matters is as great as the distance between Heaven and earth (Jerusalem Talmud);
3. “I am removed from the Jews" - i.e., she prohibited herself by a vow from deriving benefit from cohabiting with any Jew, including her husband; she probably took this vow because cohabitation is difficult for her, and it is considered extenuating circumstances. The Sages therefore said that she is divorced and takes the sum of money in her ketubah. Initially the Sages believed these three categories of women, since they embarrassed themselves by saying these things before the Court.

Afterwards, They - the Sages, later retracted - saying that the woman raising these claims is not to be believed, Lest a woman set her eyes on another and behave immorally towards her husband - they feared that she was liable to lie; since she wanted to marry another person, she would come to remove herself from her husband's authority.

But if she says, "I am impure to you," she must bring proof for her words - and without proof she is not believed that she was raped, and she is not prohibited to her husband; and if a woman says, "Heaven is between me and you," they - the Court, must plead with her - in order to effect a reconciliation between the husband and wife; and if a woman says, "I am removed from the Jews" - he may revoke his part - the part of the vow affecting the husband, because it affects matters of mutual relationship, and she may cohabit with him - after he revoked her vow, she is permitted to him, and she may be removed from the Jews - but her vow stands regarding all the other Jews, and she will be prohibited to them after she is divorced from her husband or widowed from him.

NAZIR: CHAPTER 1: MISHNAH 1

All equivalent terms for nezirut are like nezirut. One who says, "Ehei," is a nazir; or, "Ehei naveh" - a nazir "Nazik," "Naziyah," "Paziyah" - then he is a nazir. "I am like this one," "I curl," "I am letting my hair grow," "I undertake to let my hair grow" - he is a nazir. "I undertake birds" - Rabbi Meir says, a nazir. But the Sages say, He is not a nazir.

Kehati

Nezirut is included in the general category of vows, for it is written, "If a man or woman shall clearly utter a vow, the vow of a nazir" (Num. 6:2); accordingly, this tractate follows Tractate Nedarim (Gemara, Sot. 2a; Rambam, Introduction to the Mishnah).

It is taught at the beginning of Tractate Nedarim, "All equivalent terms for vows are as vows ... and for nezirut are as nezirut." It is explained there that there are three possible ways of formulating a vow: (1) the basic vow; (2) a "handle" of a vow; (3) the equivalent term for the vow. The same applies to nezirut. The basic form of nezirut is "I am a nazir," or "I am a nazir to the Lord." Whoever formulates these words becomes a nazir, and is prohibited from consuming any grape product, cutting the hair of the head and any corpse related uncleanness, as it is written (Num. 6:2-8): "He shall abstain from new wine and aged wine: he may not drink new wine vinegar or aged wine vinegar, nor may he drink anything in which grapes have been soaked, nor may he eat moistened dried grapes. All the days of his nezirut he shall not eat from anything made of the grapevine, from the seeds to the skin. All the days of his vow of nezirut no razor may pass over his head; until the completion of the days, that he dedicated himself unto the Lord as a nazir, he shall be holy, he shall grow long the hair of his head. All the days that he keeps himself a nazir unto the Lord he may not approach a dead body. Even to his father or mother, to his brother, or sister, he may not contaminate himself to them upon their death, for the crown of his God is upon his head." He is also obligated to observe the other laws pertaining to a nazir which are stated in this section of the Torah, the details of which will be explained in our tractate. A person may accept upon himself nezirut for a specific amount of time, but not for less than thirty days (as will be explained below, 1:3). Hence standard nezirut without specifying the duration means all the laws of nezirut apply to him for thirty days. Even one who accepts upon himself nezirut by a "handle" or the equivalent terms is regarded as having vowed with the basic wording of nezirut.

This mishnah lists the "handles" of nezirut and the equivalent terms of nezirut, which are the same as the basic nezirut vow.

All equivalent terms for nezirut are like nezirut - and all "handles" of nezirut are like nezirut. The following are the "handles" of nezirut (according to the Gemara, there is a lacuna in the mishnah): If one says, "Ehei" - "I will be" [eheyeh]; the Gemara explains that this refers to a case in which he saw a nazir pass by, and he said, "Ehei," and he intended to say, "I will be a nazir like him," then this one is a nazir - even though he did not explicitly state, "Ehei like this one"; or one who says, "Ehei naveh" - "I will be handsome" [eheyeh na'eh]; the Gemara explains that this refers to a case where while holding his hair he said, "Ehei naveh," and intended to say, "I will be handsome by my hair, for I will grow it long like a nazir".

The following are the equivalent terms which are like nezirut vows: "Nazik," "Naziyah," Paziyah" - if one says, "I am nazik," or "I am naziyah ," or "I am paziyah," then he is a nazir - as if he had said, "I am a nazir.” If one says, "I am like this one" e.g., he pointed to a nazir opposite him, or one who says, "I curl," or - "I am letting my hair grow," or - "It is upon me to let my hair grow" - all these are expressions for growing hair: "curl" (mesalsel) - makes curls in his hair; "I am letting my hair grow" (mekhalke1) - caring for one's hair, arranging the strands of hair and combing them down; "It is upon me to let my hair grow" (le-shalah pera) - to let the hair grow, as in the verse, "nor suffer their locks to grow long" (u-fera lo yeshalehu - Ezek. 44:20); if one held his hair and used one of these expressions intending nezirut, he is a nazir - for this wording shows his intention to accept upon himself nezirut, and it is regarded as if he had said, "I am a nazir."

If one says, "It is upon me birds" - i.e., he meant the two turtledoves or the two young pigeons, which are the nazir sacrifices if he becomes unclean, in an instance in which a nazir was passing by at the time he said this, Rabbi Meir says, He is a nazir - for these words also show that he had in mind nezirut.

And the Sages say, He is not a nazir - for these words do not constitute an acceptance of nezirut. His statement, however, constitutes a sort of vow to the Temple, and he is obligated to bring "birds," i.e., turtledoves or young pigeons, as a voluntary olah sacrifice.

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