LEVEL 01
רמת המתחיל
Base — Beginner & Intermediate
The 51 seifim translated clause by clause, and the 303 entries of the Shakh, Taz, Ba’er Hetev, Pit’hei Teshuva and Nekudot HaKesef cited one by one.
📖 Studyמי שנדר ונתחרט יש תקנה ע״י חרטה ואפילו נדר באלהי ישראל
One who vowed and then regretted it — there is a remedy through חרטה, and even if he vowed “by the God of Israel”. The siman’s first word is תקנה: a way out. All the rest says on what conditions.
Choulhan Aroukh, Yoreh De'ah 228:1The 4 study levels
LEVEL 02
רמת הלמדן
Lamdan — Talmid Hakham
Seven disputes: the פתח drawn from the חרטה, the posture of the מתירין, the interested judge, the vow on another’s opinion, and what a טובה is.
📖 StudyLEVEL 03
חזרה וסיכום
Synthesis — Revision
The 51 seifim arranged by mechanism — what opens, what does not, before whom, what voids — and the master table keeping the order of the book.
📖 StudyLEVEL 04
הלכה למעשה
Halakha lema'asse — Psak
Received practice, each line resting on a cited apparatus entry — and what the siman expressly reserves for a Rav.
📖 StudyFrequently asked questions — Siman 228
What is the difference between a פתח and a חרטה?
The חרטה is a declaration by the vower: he would have wished never to have vowed. The פתח is a fact he did not know which, had he known it, would have kept him from vowing. The Shulchan Arukh distinguishes them at seif 7:
« ואם אינו מתחרט צריך לבקש לו פתח לומר לו אילו היית יודע דבר זה לא היית נודר ונמצא הנדר נעקר מעיקרו » (שו״ע יו״ד רכ״ח:ז)The usage reported by the Rama joins the two: the חרטה itself is made into the פתח. This page describes that usage; it authorises no one to release a vow, which is done before three men and according to what a Rav has judged.
Before how many is a release made today?
Before three. The Shulchan Arukh closes his first seif on this:
« והאידנא אין מומחה שיהא ראוי להתיר ביחיד » (שו״ע יו״ד רכ״ח:א)And the Ba’er Hetev, at ס״ק ג׳, reports from the Shakh that two do not suffice, however great, even after the fact. These three must have been taught, understand, and know how to open a פתח.
What is a vow “על דעת רבים”?
A vow pronounced invoking the opinion of at least three people, named or identifiable. Seif 21 specifies:
« ואין נקראים רבים בפחות מג׳ וכגון שיפרוט אותם » (שו״ע יו״ד רכ״ח:כא)Such a vow has no release without them, and the Rama adds that it is right not to release it at all for an optional matter unless there is a mitzva. Vowing before many without saying “on their opinion” does not produce this regime (seif 23).
May a vow be released before it takes effect?
No. Seif 17 lays this down, and even sets aside the argument of the risk of transgression:
« אין מתירין הנדר עד שיחול » (שו״ע יו״ד רכ״ח:יז)But one must distinguish: an oath to do something within a term binds from today, and is therefore released from today (seif 19). The husband’s annulment and the lifting of a communal חרם escape the rule because they are not releases.
What makes a release void?
The siman says it three times, in three distant places. First at seif 4:
« ואם הוא משקר לחכם אין התרתו כלום » (שו״ע יו״ד רכ״ח:ד)
« ואם לא פרט אין התרתן התרה » (שו״ע יו״ד רכ״ח:יד)
« היתר שנעשה באונס אינו כלום » (שו״ע יו״ד רכ״ח:נא)Lying to the sage, a vow not set out, a release extracted by force. Seif 7 adds the gravest warning: a חרטה declared but untrue leaves a man forbidden by his vow all his days. This is why a release is not made without a Rav.
Are all vows released?
No. A vow that reinforces a prohibition is not released, even a merely rabbinic one:
« אין מתירין נדר של דבר איסור אפי׳ אינו אלא איסור דרבנן » (שו״ע יו״ד רכ״ח:טו)And three further cases fall under the heaviest regime, per the Rama: the vow על דעת רבים (seif 21), a self-ban in the world to come, and a vow uttered in distress (seif 45) — the last two released only for a mitzva or a great need.