Nedarim 9:10-10:1

Nedarim 9:10

If a person said, “Konam that I don’t marry that unattractive girl” and it turns out that she’s pretty, or “that dark girl” and she turns out to be fair, “short” and she turns out to be tall – in all of these cases, he is permitted to marry her. This is not because she was unattractive, dark or short and then became pretty, fair or tall, but because the vow was made in error. It once happened that a man vowed not to benefit from his sister’s daughter, so they brought her to Rabbi Yishmael’s house and made her beautiful. Rabbi Yishmael said to the man, “Did you take a vow about this woman?” The man replied that he did not and Rabbi Yishmael annulled the vow. At that time, Rabbi Yishmael wept, saying that Jewish girls are beautiful but poverty keeps them from meeting their potential. When Rabbi Yishmael died, the Jewish girls wept and lamented over him, just as the Jewish girls did when Saul died (II Samuel 1:24).

Nedarim 10:1

A betrothed girl’s vows can be voided by her father and her husband together. If one of them voided her vow without the other, it is not effective. It goes without saying that the vow is not voided if one of them confirmed it.