19
Your question is based on an incorrect supposition. Archaeology has shown that the typical Israelite dwellings during the Iron age were two floors with animals living on the bottom floor.
See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_room_house
Here's a picture of a model of what they think they looked like:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/...
15
Kesubos 72a
תניא נמי הכי המדיר את אשתו שלא תשאל ושלא תשאיל נפה וכברה ריחים ותנור יוציא ויתן כתובה מפני שמשיאה שם רע בשכינותיה
Someone who imposes a vow on his wife that she may not borrow or lend her kitchen utensils like sieve, mill, oven etc. must divorce his wife and pay her Kesuba because he makes a bad name for his wife among her neighbours
11
http://halachafortoday.com/QandA4.aspx
A: The Chazon Ish ruled that one who made up his mind to give Tzedaka
to a certain poor person who was collecting, and then the poor person
disappeared (similar to your case of the organization closing down)
you can give the money to a different poor person (or in your case a
similar institution) The best ...
10
The gemara (Nedarim 2b) says explicitly what the difference is between a neder and a shevuah:
דתנא נדרים דמיתסר חפצא עליה... לאפוקי שבועה דקאסר נפשיה מן חפצא
It taught nedarim where one forbids an object on himself, and excluded shevuot where one forbids one's self from the object.
This distinction follows through to the Rambam (first two halachot in ...
9
"What might Yiftach have had in mind when he talked about something coming out of his house?"
I believe he had in mind that a male member of his family, i.e. one of his sons, would come to greet him. Notice his wording "וְהָיָה לַיהוָה וְהַעֲלִיתִיהוּ עֹלָה", which the commentators translate "It will be for God or I will bring it as an olah offering (if ...
9
From http://www.shemayisrael.com/parsha/alport/archives/matos67.htm
ונבח הלך וילכד את קנת ואת בנתיה ויקרא לה נבח בשמו 32:41-42
Rav Aizik Ausband was once faced with a dilemma. His father-in-law,
Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Bloch Hy”d, was one of the leaders of the Telz
yeshiva who was tragically murdered in the Holocaust. Rav Ausband’s
wife was ...
9
If you say it but don't intend it, it doesn't count as a vow (Yoreh Deah 210:1). However, the Bach and Maharshal (quoted in Be'er Heitev 210:1) say that if he intended to misspeak, what he says counts. But if you were forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance (as in Yirmeyahu's boy scout example), you are allowed to intend in your heart for it not to count (232:...
9
Based on the ArtScroll Machzor's introduction to Kol Nidrei:
When Rabbah bar bar Chanah arrived at the site of Har Sinai, he heard a Divine voice proclaim: "Woe is me that I have sworn! But now that I have sworn, who will annul my oath?" (Bava Basra 74a) The Rashbam comments that HaShem looks for grounds to annul his oath not to end the exile (ibid.).
The ...
8
One explanation I heard was that Kol Nidre took on additional layers of emotional meaning for European Jews because of the forced conversion of Jews to Christianity during the Middle Ages.
7
In the far more stringent case of "blessing" Hashem's Name, we find that one of the witnesses has to repeat before the beis din the actual words used (Sanhedrin 56a) - and of course he is not punished for that (no "Life of Brian" scenario here!). So I think that's a pretty strong proof that quoting doesn't equal an actual declaration.
With nedarim and ...
7
I finally found the Sefer Lulei Toratcha stories with Rav Shach on the parsha.Parshas Matos 30:4.
Rav Shach answered that she should name the child Shmayah since it is similar to the name Shimon and in this way she can be miskayim the neder a little bit.
7
Excellent question.
Back in an agricultural society, people had animals around. So he was thinking it would be a cow, sheep, or goat. Nonetheless, the Talmud said he should not have taken that oath -- what if it was a horse or donkey? (Which can't be used as a sacrifice.)
Some Christians took this story as a message "oh, always fulfill your oaths." The ...
6
Rambam (Hil. Nedarim 3:7) draws exactly this distinction, based on Nedarim 16b. He says:
ומפני מה נדרים חלים על דברי מצוה. ושבועות אין חלות על דברי מצוה. שהנשבע אוסר עצמו על דבר שנשבע עליו. והנודר אוסר הדבר הנדור על עצמו
Translation from Chabad.org:
Why do vows take effect with regard to mitzvot and oaths do not take effect with regard to mitzvot? ...
6
According to Alex's answer here (which I asked for this very purpose):
"A neder, by definition, is either declaring something to be
forbidden to oneself, or taking on an obligation to bring a korban or
give tzedakah (Rambam, ibid. 1:1-2 and Matnos Aniyim 8:1)."
So even if saying bli neder CAN circumvent a vow, logic dictates that it would only work ...
6
Other answers have addressed the meaning in the text and historical associations, but I think DoubleAA's comment is critical: it's the music. I've been told this by many members of my congregation, including both scholars and "regular Jews". For them, just reading the text would be empty, but hearing it sung connects them with the day, its themes, and its ...
6
From KolTorah.org
The Maharal commenting on Rashi, answers that
this was the way the people back then made Shevu’ot; the one swearing would place their hands under the other thigh of the person he is swearing to (as the Ibn Ezra points out in his commentary to Breishit 24:2 and confirmed by Da’at Mikra ad. loc.). Yaakov thought that if he did not do the ...
6
Halichos Shlomo 1 1:7 says that a lady who gets married to someone who holds that it is required to wait 3 hours after eating meat before eating dairy, and until now she always held 6 hours, may change her Minhag to her husbands and is not required to do Hataras Nedarim.
6
The barebone Halacha is in Yoreh De'ah 228 - סימן רכח - דיני התרת נדרים - where it says that all that the 3 people need to say is מֻתָּר לָךְ - preferably thrice.
So I'm not sure what the others were saying but as long as they said מֻתָּר לָךְ (or similar, in any language) even once, the hataras nedarim is valid.
My guess: They either say it often and ...
6
I found the source I was looking for ,it is from the Chofetz Chaim in his Kuntres Tiferes Adam (on the issur of shaving ). He writes that he remembers that when a Jew took a vow he would do so with his beard and payos.
6
yeshiva.co was posed this question ("Hatarat Nedarim & Kol Nidrei") and responded:
1) The most common answer [...] is that Kol Nidrei refers to the vows of the community, while Hatarat Nedarim takes care of personal vows.
2) On another level, Kol Nidrei (according to one Nusach) frees us from future vows only if the condition is forgotten ...
5
As @DoubleAA wrote, the Rambam seems to imply that there is a mitzva to swear in Hashem's name (when something is true).
However, there is a Medrash Tanchuma which says that since the verse says: "את ה' אלהיך תירא ואותו תעבוד ובו תדבק ובשמו תשבע" - "You will fear Hashem, serve him, cleave to him and swear in his name", one is only allowed to swear in Hashem'...
5
The Seventh of the 613 Mitzvot according to the Rambam is:
והמצוה השביעית היא שצונו להשבע בשמו יתעלה כשנצטרך לקיים דבר מן הדברים או להכחישו כי בזה הגדולה לשם יתע' וכבוד ועילוי והוא אמרו (ואתחנן ו עקב י) ובשמו תשבע...
The seventh commandment is that we are commanded to take oaths in His holy name when we will need to establish or contradict ...
5
No sources, just an attempt at logic.
We have a strong tradition of altering divine names to avoid trouble when studying or talking (that is, outside of the situations where we really do want to use those names). This demonstrates a pattern for dealing with possibly-problematic speech. We have no such tradition for quoting people who spoke, either from ...
5
The piyyut is a poetic recreation, rather than an accurate representation of what happened. This is obvious since the Ten Martyrs did not actually live at the same time as one another.
As such, this is a poetic statement demonstrating Hashem's conflicted emotions about doing this. He is also crying, and if they press the unfairness and awfulness of this, ...
5
The Or Hachaim Bereshis 24:12 answers this question:
Eliezer was worried that once Betuel and family know that Avraham instructed him to find a wife specifically from the family and NOT from Canaan, they would offer one of their Canaanite maid servants as a match - and say that this is their own daughter.
Therefore Eliezer went by his mission/shlichut the ...
5
By making the neder to bring a mincha with barley when he knows it is not possible, this person is making a neder in vain – a neder shov.
From INSIGHTS INTO THE DAILY DAF Nedarim 15 I see that
The RAN (end of Nedarim 14b) writes that there is no Isur of "Neder
Shav," a Neder made in vain, as there is an Isur of Shevu'as Shav, a
Shevu'ah made in ...
5
Your example is politically loaded. Let's try a simpler one.
Joe makes a vow not to eat chocolate. Then he finds himself on a desert island where there is no food other than chocolate, and he will otherwise die of starvation. (Or more simply -- he's having a diabetic emergency and the only available food is chocolate.)
The prohibition of violating a vow is ...
5
The Shulchan Arukh in the laws of Nedarim (YD 210:1) rules that if one intended to prohibit wheat bread to himself as a Neder but only said "bread" unmodified, only wheat bread is prohibited to him. (The Shakh there rules this is only so if the omission of the type of bread was an accident, and one cannot rely on this rule Lechatchila.)
Your case ("i will ...
5
It appears indeed one should keep his promises in the context of a small gift. The Rambam writes (MT Mechira 7:9) (based on the gemara in Baba Metzia 49a)
Similarly, if a person promised to give a colleague a gift and failed to do so, he is considered to be faithless. When does the above
apply? With regard to a small gift, because the recipient will ...
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