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Week 72 - Friday - 13 April 2001

NEDARIM: CHAPTER 10: MISHNAH 2

If the father died, the right does not fall to the husband. If the husband died, the right falls to the father. In this the power of the father surpasses the power of the husband. In another matter the power of the husband surpasses the power of the father: for the husband may revoke for a bogeret, but the father does not revoke for a bogeret.

Kehati

After learning in the previous mishnah that "A betrothed girl - her father and her husband may revoke her vows," this mishnah teaches the differences between the authority of the father and that of the husband. We have mentioned in the introduction to the preceding mishnah, that we learn from the verse "being a na'arah, in her father's house" (Num. 30:17) that the father has authority to revoke his daughter's vows as long as she is a na'arah - before she becomes a bogeret, and she is in her father's house - not having married. After she married and moved from her father's house to that of her husband, however, she is under the authority of her husband, and he may revoke her vows. Regarding a "betrothed na'arah," however, who is still living in her father's house, with her father still having authority to revoke her vows, the Sages learned, using Biblical exegesis, that with the act of betrothal (erusin) she also enters under the authority of her groom, and therefore "her father and her husband may revoke her vows." This mishnah teaches that the groom's authority is only an additional authority besides that of the father.

If the father - of the betrothed na'arah - died, the right - of the father over his daughter, which expired upon his death, does not fall to the husband -and he may not revoke her vows, which he may only do when she marries him, but while she is only betrothed, he may revoke her vows only together with her father, as was explained above.

If the husband died - while she was betrothed, the right falls to the father - i.e., the father once again may revoke his daughter's vows by himself while she is a na'arah, as before the betrothal. In this - the law which was taught above, the power of the father surpasses the power of the husband - the groom (arus).

In another matter the power of the husband surpasses the power of the father: for the husband may revoke - his wife's vows - for a bogeret - even when she has reached maturity, but the father does not revoke for a bogeret - the father may revoke his daughter's vows only as long as she is a na'arah, and not when she reaches maturity. The Gemara explains that e.g., if "he performed kiddushin when she was a bogeret," and our mishnah follows the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer, who holds (mishnah 5, below) that if the time for completing the marriage arrived and he did not marry her, the groom may revoke her vows, since he is obligated to support her, and in this matter the power of the groom surpasses that of the father.

NEDARIM: CHAPTER 10: MISHNAH 3

If she made a vow while she was betrothed, was divorced on the same day, became betrothed on the same day, even to a hundred - her father and her last husband may revoke her vows. This is the general rule: if she has not gone out into her own authority for one hour - her father and her last husband revoke her vows.

Kehati

The law is that after the marriage, when the husband revokes his wife's vows by himself, he may not revoke the vows which she took prior to the marriage. This mishnah teaches that, since the groom may revoke his betrothed's vows only together with her father, he may also, together with the father, revoke the vows which she took before she became betrothed to him.

If she - the na'arah, made a vow while she was betrothed, was divorced - from her groom - on the same day - on which her father heard her vow; for if the day passed, he may no longer revoke her vow, as it is written in the section on the annulment of vows, "on the day of his hearing," and she - became betrothed - to another, on the same day, even to a hundred - men on the same day, i.e., even if she was divorced and, became betrothed and was divorced and became betrothed to many people, on the same day, her father and her last husband may revoke her vows - which she took in front of the first groom, for the groom may revoke the previous vows, since he may only revoke together with the father, as was explained above, and the authority of the father to revoke his daughter's vows does not expire as a result of her betrothal.

This is the general rule: whoever has not gone out into her own authority one hour - by reaching maturity or by marriage, even if she was betrothed, divorced, and betrothed again, as was explained above, her father and her last husband - i.e., groom, may revoke her vows - as was explained above.

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