daf bit: Nedarim 13

[cellio]

When a man seeks to anul a vow, the court must find some cause for regret of the vow. The court must not hold as a reason that the vow is derogatory to his mother's dignity, but must find some other source. Why? Because this is too easy, and allowing it would encourage people to make vows lightly because they can be easily anulled. (Making vows was generally discouraged.) (13b)

(I would have thought that because of kibud av v'eim, honor your father and mother, there would be strong reason to accept "this dishonors my mother" as justification. I suspect the rabbis, in addition to trying to make it harder to make vows, are also trying to make people less casual and more thoughtful in evaluating parental honor.)

Comments

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Who knew that "Your Mama!" was Jewish? :-) :-)

Not looking at the Hebrew, I suspect the term "regret of the vow" is likely needing expansion or a better term. Most of us regret having to "pay the freight" on our agreements. We do it, as the right thing to do, but we are free to feel regretful.

[cellio]

True. I'll see if my rabbinic Hebrew and/or Aramaic is up to the task later. I think this is regret in the sense of "it was wrong (in an absolute sense) for me to make that vow", not in the sense of "dang, this sure is inconvenient".