Nedarim 8

מנין שנשבעין לקיים את המצוה שנאמר נשבעתי ואקימה לשמר משפטי צדקך

From where is it derived that one may take an oath to fulfill a mitzva? It is as it is stated: “I have sworn and I have confirmed it, to observe Your righteous ordinances” (Psalms 119:106).

והלא מושבע ועומד מהר סיני הוא אלא הא קא משמע לן דשרי ליה לאיניש לזרוזי נפשיה

The Gemara asks: Is he not already under oath from when each Jew took an oath at Mount Sinai to fulfill all the mitzvot? An oath cannot take effect if one is already bound by a different oath. Rather, it teaches us this: It is permitted for a man to motivate himself to fulfill the mitzvot in this manner, although the oath is not technically valid.

ואמר רב גידל אמר רב האומר אשכים ואשנה פרק זה אשנה מסכתא זו נדר גדול נדר לאלהי ישראל והלא מושבע ועומד הוא ואין שבועה חלה על שבועה מאי קא משמע לן דאפילו זרוזי בעלמא היינו דרב גידל קמייתא

And Rav Giddel said that Rav said: One who says: I will rise early and study this chapter, or: I will study this tractate, has taken a great vow to the God of Israel. This clearly indicates that the vow takes effect. The Gemara asks: Is he not already under oath due to the general obligation to study Torah? And an oath does not take effect upon a preexisting oath. What is he teaching us? If one claims that Rav Giddel is teaching that such a vow may be made even merely to motivate oneself to study, this is the same as the first statement of Rav Giddel.

הא קא משמע לן כיון דאי בעי פטר נפשיה בקרית שמע שחרית וערבית משום הכי חייל שבועה עליה

The Gemara answers: It teaches us this: Since if he desires he can exempt himself from the obligation to study Torah with the recitation of Shema in the morning and evening, due to that reason the oath takes effect upon him and he is obligated to study the chapter or tractate that he specified.

אמר רב גידל אמר רב האומר לחבירו נשכים ונשנה פרק זה עליו להשכים שנאמר ויאמר אלי (בן אדם) קום צא אל הבקעה ושם אדבר אותך ואצא אל הבקעה והנה שם כבוד ה׳ עמד

Rav Giddel said that Rav said: With regard to one who says to another: Let us rise early and study this chapter, and they agree to do so, it is incumbent upon him to rise early and be the first to arrive, because it was his initiative. There is an allusion to this in a verse, as it is stated: “And He said to me: Arise, go forth into the plain, and there I will speak with you. Then I arose and went forth into the plain; and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there” (Ezekiel 3:22–23). God invited Ezekiel to that place, and His glory arrived before Ezekiel did.

אמר רב יוסף נידוהו בחלום צריך עשרה בני אדם להתיר לו והוא דתנו הלכתא אבל מתנו ולא תנו לא ואי ליכא דתנו הלכתא אפילו מתנו ולא תנו

§ Rav Yosef said: One who was ostracized in a dream requires ten people to dissolve the ostracism for him. And the ostracism can be dissolved only by those who have studied halakha, i.e., by Torah scholars. However, if they have recited Mishna and have not studied halakha, no, they are not fit to dissolve the ostracism. And if there are not ten people who have studied halakha, then even those who have recited Mishna and have not studied halakha are fit to dissolve the ostracism.

ואי ליכא ליזיל וליתב אפרשת דרכים ויהיב שלמא לבי עשרה עד דמקלעי ליה עשרה דגמרי הלכתא

And if there are not even ten people who have studied Mishna, let him go and sit at the crossroads and extend a greeting of shalom, meaning peace, to ten people, who will respond with a similar greeting, until ten individuals who have studied halakha happen to come to him.

אמר ליה רבינא לרב אשי ידע מאן שמתיה מהו דלישרי ליה אמר ליה לשמותיה שויוה שליח למישרי ליה לא שויוה שליח

Ravina said to Rav Ashi: If he knows who excommunicated him in his dream, what is the halakha? Can that individual dissolve the excommunication for him? Rav Ashi said to him: It is possible that he was appointed by Heaven as an agent to excommunicate him, but he was not appointed as an agent to dissolve the excommunication for him. Consequently, the excommunication can be dissolved only by ten people.

אמר ליה רב אחא לרב אשי שמתיה ושרו ליה בחלמיה מאי אמר ליה כשם שאי אפשר לבר בלא תבן

Rav Aḥa said to Rav Ashi: If he was excommunicated and the excommunication was dissolved for him in his dream, what is the halakha? Rav Ashi said to him: Just as it is impossible for the grain to grow without straw,

כך אי אפשר לחלום בלא דברים בטלים

so too, it is impossible to dream without idle matter. It is possible that the excommunication was real and the dissolution was not real, and he must have the ostracism dissolved by ten people.

רבינא הוה לה נדרא לדביתהו אתא לקמיה דרב אשי אמר ליה בעל מהו שיעשה שליח לחרטת אשתו אמר ליה אי מכנפין אין אי לא לא

The Gemara relates that Ravina’s wife had taken a vow that he had not immediately nullified as a husband is entitled to do, and she wished to have it dissolved. Ravina came before Rav Ashi and said to him: What is the halakha with regard to whether a husband can become an agent to express his wife’s regret to a court so that they can dissolve her vow? Rav Ashi said to him: If three people who can dissolve the vow were already assembled, yes; if they are not already assembled, no, a husband cannot serve as an agent to express his wife’s regret to the court.

שמע מינה תלת שמע מינה בעל נעשה שליח לחרטת אשתו ושמע מינה לא שרי למישרי נדרא באתרא דרביה ושמע מינה כי מכנפין שפיר דמי

The Gemara comments: Learn from this incident three halakhot: Learn from this that a husband can become an agent to express his wife’s regret. And learn from this that a Sage is not permitted to dissolve a vow in the location of his teacher, which is why Ravina, a distinguished Sage, did not dissolve the vow without consulting Rav Ashi. And learn from this that when three people were already assembled, it seems well for a husband to serve as an agent to express his wife’s regret, but if the three people were not yet assembled he cannot serve as her agent.

ושמתא אפילו באתרא דרביה ויחיד מומחה שרי שמתא

The Gemara adds: And one may dissolve excommunication even in the location of his teacher. And an individual Sage who is an expert can dissolve excommunication even without two other judges.

אמר רבי שמעון בר זביד אמר רבי יצחק בר טבלא אמר רבי חייא אריכא דבי רבי אחא אמר רבי זירא אמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא אמר רבי מיאשה משמיה דרבי יהודה בר אילעאי מאי דכתיב וזרחה לכם יראי שמי (שמש צדקה וגו׳) אלו בני אדם שהן יראין להוציא שם שמים לבטלה שמש צדקה ומרפא אמר אביי שמע מינה חרגא דיומא מסי

§ Rabbi Shimon bar Zevid said that Rabbi Yitzḥak bar Tavla said that Rabbi Ḥiyya Arikha, the tall, of the school of Rabbi Aḥa said that Rabbi Zeira said that Rabbi Elazar said that Rabbi Ḥanina said that Rabbi Meyasha said in the name of Rabbi Yehuda bar Elai: What is the meaning of that which is written: “But to you that fear My name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings; and you shall go forth and leap as calves of the stall” (Malachi 3:20)? “You that fear My name”; these are people who are afraid to mention the name of Heaven in vain. The verse states that a sun of righteousness with healing will arise to heal them. Abaye said: Learn from this verse that the dust [ḥirga] that is illuminated by the rays of the sun during the day heals, as it states: “With healing in its wings.”

ופליגא דרבי שמעון בן לקיש דאמר אין גיהנם לעולם הבא אלא הקדוש ברוך הוא מוציא חמה מנרתיקה צדיקין מתרפאין בה ורשעים נידונין בה שנאמר וזרחה לכם יראי שמי שמש וגו׳ ולא עוד אלא שמתעדנין בה שנאמר ויצאתם ופשתם כעגלי מרבק

The Gemara comments: Abaye disagrees with the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, who said: There is no Gehenna in the World-to-Come. Rather, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will remove the sun from its sheath [minartika], and the righteous will be healed by it and the wicked will be punished by it. The righteous will be healed by it, as it is stated: “But to you that fear My name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings”; and moreover, not only will they be healed by it but they will even be rejuvenated by it, as it is stated: “And you shall go forth and leap as calves of the stall.”

והרשעים נידונין בה שנאמר הנה היום בא בער כתנור וגו׳

And the wicked will be punished by the same sun, as it is stated: “For behold, the day is coming, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that comes shall set them ablaze” (Malachi 3:19). Consequently, Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish holds that the sun heals only in the World-to-Come, whereas Abaye interprets the verse as referring to this world.