daf bit: Nedarim 48
Feb. 7th, 2008 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioThe mishna discusses using an intermediary to get around a vow.
Suppose a father has vowed not to benefit from his son. His
son wants to host a banquet for his own son's wedding, and the
mishna proposes that he give the banquet (that is, the resources
to pay for it) to a neighbor on the condition that his father
be invited. The gemara debates whether this is valid, and
concludes that if he says "so that my father can come"
it is legal but if he says "on condition that my father
can come", it is not a legitimate gift. The decision must be
left to the recipient, but the giver is allowed to make a
request. (48b)
Re: Tangential, but significant I think:
Date: 2008-02-10 07:14 pm (UTC)Sometime last year I remember being cautioned about the web site you found. I don't remember the details -- just that the caution came from someone who's more fluent than I am, so I filed it away as "don't rely on them". I got curious after you posted the link, so I checked out their overview page. They seem to be protesting something; they alude to talmud being "censored", which it is not so far as I know. Their copyright page seems to go out of its way to say "you can't stop us" and demonstates clear misunderstandings of US copyright law, which causes me to raise an eyebrow. I'm not sure what's up with them and I don't know if it would color any of their posted translations, but if it's really important you might want to double-check anything you learn there. Soncino is reputable; so is Steinsaltz or Shottenstein. Again, I haven't personally seen anything bogus in their text, so it might all be just fine -- just passing along what I've heard augmented by what little poking around I did.
(Hmm -- just noticed this: "the talmud is becoming the template for public law in the United States". What?)