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Can someone swear off something that is already prohibited to them?

For instance: "I swear I won't eat non-kosher."

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2 Answers

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This is called a sh'vu'as shav (useless oath). The utterance has no effect because it is not stating or changing anything that was not already binding and true. The opening paragraph here has a couple other examples.

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-1, mushba veomed mehar sinai (מושבע ועומד מהר סיני). That means he already swared about it on Sinai, hence swearing again has no effect. Here is an article for example about that. judaism.stackexchange.com/a/9227/1059 – Adam Mosheh Jul 12 '12 at 20:01
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I think it is rather called mushba veomed mehar sinai (מושבע ועומד מהר סיני). That means he already swared about it on Sinai, hence swearing again has no effect.

Here is an article for example about that.

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I believe mushba v'omed says that a shevua to eat non-kosher doesn't begin since you already made a shavua to not eat non-kosher. zaq is referring to making a shevua that complies with har sinai. In that case, @WAF's rule comes in. – YDK Aug 2 '11 at 18:31
@YDK, look here: he.wikisource.org/wiki/… . Especially this line "והלא מושבע ועומד הוא, ואין שבועה חלה על שבועה" – jutky Aug 3 '11 at 11:37
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You are correct. I haven't looked at how others learn that piece. Are you saying that the shevua has no effect in the shevua world, but it's not a shevuas shav because it helps to motivate? – YDK Aug 3 '11 at 19:28

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