daf bit: Nedarim 6

[cellio]

This week the daf yomi moves on to tractate Nedarim (vows -- you know this word from "kol nidrei", "all vows", part of the Yom Kippur liturgy).

The wording of vows is very important; the gemara has a long discussion of whether a person can be held to a vow (such as "this is a sin-offering for me") if he does not explicitly say "for me". Without those words he could be making a statement about someone else's sin-offering, after all; with them he is making a pledge, according to the rabbis. The gemara gives divorce as an exception to this rule, since "no man divorces his neighbor's wife" -- the get (divorce document) is obviously "from me" even if that is not stated. (6a)

Comments

[sethg]

IIRC the late Rabbi Blumenkrantz used to say that when you're preparing some meat for the Passover seder that could in theory be offered in the Temple (e.g., roast lamb), you need to be very careful not to say "this is for Pesach", lest you accidentally dedicate the food for the Temple (and therefore make it too holy to eat as a regular meal). Instead, you have to say something like "this is for the holiday".