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Shevuos 3:4-5

Shevuos 3:4

If a person swore not to eat, then he ate foods or he drank beverages that were not fit to eat, he is exempt. If he ate carrion, torn animals (neveilos and treifos, respectively), detestable things or creeping things, he is liable, though Rabbi Shimon exempts him. If a man said “Konam (a vow) that my wife will not benefit from me if I ate today,” if he had eaten neveilos, treifos, detestable things or creeping things, then his wife is prohibited as per his oath.

Shevuos 3:5

It makes no difference whether a person swore about himself or others, about tangible things or intangible things. Therefore, it’s all the same if someone swore to give something to a certain person, or not to give, or that he gave, or that he didn’t give, or if he swore to sleep or not to sleep, or that he slept or didn’t sleep, or that he will or won’t throw a rock into the sea, or that he did or didn’t already do so. Rabbi Yishmael says that one is only liable if his oath concerns the future, as per Leviticus 5:4, “to do bad or to do good.” Rabbi Akiva said that if we’re going to take that as the parameters, then we only know about doing bad or good; how do we know about oaths that do not involve doing bad or good? Rabbi Yishmael replied that the verse includes an extension (ribui – specifically, “whatever a person expresses with an oath”) that applies to those other cases. Rabbi Akiva responded that if the Torah can include things that are neither good nor bad through a ribui, it can also include things that are not in the future.

Author: Rabbi Jack Abramowitz