✦ ❖ ✦ Level 3 — Synthesis / Revision ✦ ❖ ✦
Siman 219 — The Vow With No Term Set
דין הנודר בלא קביעות זמן
A synthesis for revision: three seifim, two directions, one rule
שולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן רי״ט · ג׳ סעיפים
ש״ך · ט״ז · באר היטב · פתחי תשובה · נקודות הכסף · טור · בית יוסף · רמב״ם
DAAT · הרב יוסף חיים סממה
1. The single rule, and its two faces
A vow is read according to what the man meant (siman 218). Applied to time, that principle gives two opposite results, and that is the whole siman.
| The vow | What the silence carries | Why |
|---|
| to act — to marry, to buy, to pay a teacher (seifim 1-2) | no compulsion: עד שימצא הראוי לו | no one bound himself to whatever comes first |
| to forbid a thing (seif 3) | forbidden לעולם | nothing bounds the prohibition — what term would you give it? |
2. The three seifim, in the order of the book
| Seif | The clause of the Shulchan Arukh | What it says |
|---|
| א | « דין הנודר בלא קביעות זמן. ובו ג׳ סעיפים » (שו״ע יו״ד רי״ט:א) | The law of one who vows without setting a term — and it contains three seifim |
| א | « מי שנדר או נשבע לישא אשה או לקנות בית וכיוצא בו » (שו״ע יו״ד רי״ט:א) | One who vowed or swore to marry a woman, or to buy a house, or the like |
| א | « ולא קבע זמן אין מחייבין אותו לישא או לקנות » (שו״ע יו״ד רי״ט:א) | and he did not set a term — he is not obliged to marry or to buy |
| א | « עד שימצא הראוי לו » (שו״ע יו״ד רי״ט:א) | until he finds what is fitting for him |
| ב | « הנשבע לשכור מלמד לבנו עד עשרה לטרין » (שו״ע יו״ד רי״ט:ב) | One who swore to hire a teacher for his son up to ten litrin |
| ב | « כל זמן שישכור מלמד הגון הוא פטור » (שו״ע יו״ד רי״ט:ב) | so long as he hires a fitting teacher, he is quit |
| ב | « ויזהר שלא ישלח המלמד הראשון עד שיבא השני » (שו״ע יו״ד רי״ט:ב) | and let him take care not to dismiss the first teacher before the second arrives |
| ב | « כי צריך לשכור המלמד הראשון ההגון לו אם לא שבא לו מלמד אחר » (שו״ע יו״ד רי״ט:ב) | for he must hire the first fitting teacher, unless another teacher comes to him |
| ג | « מי שאסר דבר אחד עליו בלא זמן » (שו״ע יו״ד רי״ט:ג) | One who forbade a thing upon himself without a term |
| ג | « אסור בו לעולם » (שו״ע יו״ד רי״ט:ג) | it is forbidden to him forever |
3. The positions in play
A fixed term (seif 1)
| Who | What he holds | Where |
|---|
| The Mabit | the rule holds even where a term was set — only the fitting is ever required | Shakh ס״ק ב · Ba’er Hetev ס״ק א |
| The Rashdam, the Knesset HaGedola | only where no term was set | Ba’er Hetev ס״ק א, in parentheses |
A term-less oath (seif 3)
| Who | What he holds | Where |
|---|
| The Ran | the vow is perpetual because the word נדר embraces consecration | Taz ס״ק א |
| The Hagahot Mordechai | nezirut is brief because it binds the person; a vow forbids the object | Taz ס״ק א |
| The Darkei Moshe | raises the doubt on an oath — then resolves it himself in the Rosh’s name | Shakh ס״ק ד · Nekudot HaKesef |
| The Taz, the Shakh, the Ba’er Hetev | an oath too is forever | Taz ס״ק א · Shakh ס״ק ד · Ba’er Hetev ס״ק ב |
4. The vocabulary to hold
| Term | What it denotes |
|---|
| קביעות זמן | the setting of a term — what the man omitted, and the axis of the siman |
| הראוי לו · הגון | the fitting — the measure of seifim 1 and 2, from the braita of Bava Kamma |
| התפסה | attaching a thing to another already forbidden: how an undertaking to act takes the shape of a vow (Shakh ס״ק א) |
| ידות | the “handles” of a vow — an incomplete formula that binds all the same (Shakh ס״ק א, referring to siman 206) |
| דבר מצוה · דבר הרשות | the Mahari’t’s distinction on the power to defer (Pit’hei Teshuva ס״ק א) |
| סתם נזירות שלשים יום | the reverse model the Taz and the Shakh must set aside |
| פסידא דלא הדר | a loss that does not return — the Beit Yosef’s reason in seif 2 |
5. The classic pitfalls
Do not read seif 1 as a cancellation. The vow holds perfectly; it is its execution that waits. One who finds what suits him and still refuses is bound.
Do not confuse the ceiling with the quotation. “Up to ten litrin” promises no ten litrin. But freedom over the sum does not extend to continuity: the seif expressly forbids creating a gap.
Do not transpose the thirty days of nezirut. That is the very trap the Darkei Moshe set and resolved: a term-less oath is not a thirty-day oath.
Do not think “forever” means “without remedy”. A perpetual vow is still a vow: it is released by a sage. What seif 3 excludes is its lapsing of itself.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
DAAT · הרב יוסף חיים סממה
תלמיד חכם · מעביר שיעורים בהלכה ובחסידות
סימן רי״ט · Level 3 — Synthesis / Revision · דין הנודר בלא קביעות זמן
daattorah.com