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

[cellio]

That's a good question, and I don't know. I've seen some commentaries (which I will have to look up) about tendencies to honor versus heed being different for each parent (that one is more likely to heed one's father and love one's mother anyway, I think). Maybe it's related to that -- the rabbis see offending one's father as more likely so that wouldn't be an out, but offending one's mother is seen as more terrible? I'm guessing here.

Putting on my Silly Goy Hat (take in good fun)

[talvinamarich.livejournal.com]

Actually, there is another reason, one related to the Jewish Male Conspiracy.

You see, shortly after his bar mitzvah, a boy is inducted into the Conspiracy by his male relations. Said conspiracy centers around a solemn vow that, once he has left home, he will take pains to avoid contacting his mother, be it through the services of the various telecoms, or via the postal service. This ruling is actually intended to shield him from any attempt on the mother's part to have that vow annulled.

For proof of this, ask any Jewish Mama with adult male progeny. "You don't call, you don't write...!"

:P