✦ ❖ ✦ Level 3 — Synthesis / Revision ✦ ❖ ✦
Siman 234 — Synthesis: the five mechanisms of annulment
מתי האב והבעל מפירין ומתי מפירין שניהם יחד
Seventy-four seifim arranged by mechanism — then the master table that keeps the book’s order
שולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן רל״ד · ע״ד סעיפים
ש״ך · ט״ז · באר היטב · פתחי תשובה · נקודות הכסף · טור · בית יוסף · רמב״ם
DAAT · הרב יוסף חיים סממה
1. How the siman is built
Seventy-four seifim are not revised in order. They are arranged here by mechanism — who annuls, when, at what stage of the vow, by what words, which vows — and the master table of the last section restores the order of the book, which remains the only reference point.
| Block | Seifim | Matter |
|---|
| I | 1–4 | The father, the husband, and marriages that are none |
| II | 5–20 | The betrothed נערה and the passage of authority |
| III | 21–27 | The day, the hearing, the capacity |
| IV | 28–35 | The hour of the vow and the annuller’s intention |
| V | 36–44 | The division of annulment, language, mouth and heart |
| VI | 45–50 | The formulas limited in time |
| VII | 51–54 | A vow attached to another vow |
| VIII | 55–74 | Which vows the husband and father annul |
The governing word. At seif 51: husband and father אינם עוקרים הנדר מעיקרו כמו החכם. From this come the one-day window, the two categories of vow, the survival of the third party’s vow, and the fact that the sage’s words do not avail here.
2. Who annuls — and in what state
| Who | From when to when | Seifim |
|---|
| The father alone | while his daughter is a minor or a נערה — until adulthood or marriage | 1 |
| The husband alone | from the חופה until the גט is in hand | 2, 3 |
| Both together | from betrothal until the חופה | 5, 8, 9 |
| No one | a union where קידושין do not take hold; a שומרת יבם | 4, 7 |
| Neither שוטה nor minor | seif 26 says so without giving a reason; seif 27 gives its own — for want of אישות | 26, 27 |
Between betrothal and the חופה, annulment takes two hands, and one hand only weakens — that is the word קלוש of seif 5. On the day of hearing, two views, and the Shakh reports from the Bach that the stringency is taken (ס״ק י״ג).
3. The passage from one authority to the other
Seifim 8 to 20 follow one question: when one of the two holders disappears or changes, what becomes of the power? They reduce to the rules below.
The betrothed dies → his domain empties into the father’s, who annuls alone (seif 11) — under the conditions of time the seif sets.
The father dies → nothing empties into the betrothed, who can do nothing (seif 15).
The betrothed divorces her → it is doubtful whether divorce counts as upholding, so one does not annul (seif 20).
She is betrothed again → the father and the last betrothed annul, so long as she has not passed under her own authority (seifim 13, 17, 18, 19).
The order of hearings changes everything: an annulment made in the betrothed’s lifetime “spends” the father’s share (seif 16, Shakh ס״ק ל״א). Seif 10 reports the usage that guards against it — two sentences said in time.
4. The day he heard
The rule. Seif 21: אלא ביום שמעם ודוקא כל היום ולא מעת לעת — the calendar day, not twenty-four hours. Heard at the start of the night: all night and the next day. Heard near evening: until evening.
| Situation | Can he still annul? | Seif |
|---|
| The day passed and he kept silent | No — even if he was silent to distress her | 21 |
| He did not know he could annul | Yes — the day restarts at the knowing | 21 |
| He thought the vow beyond his reach | Yes — same reason | 21 |
| He knew, and was ignorant only of the deadline | No | 22 |
| He upheld through a mistake about the formula | No — the upholding stands | 22 |
| He mistook the person or the vow | Yes — the day restarts at the second knowing | 31, 32 |
| It is Shabbat | Yes — but without pronouncing the annulment | 24 |
5. At what stage of the vow, and what the intention bears on
1. Before she vows: never (seif 28). 2. After the vow, before it takes effect: yes (seif 28) — and the Rama restricts it to vows that take effect of themselves, which the Shakh discusses at ס״ק מ״ה from seif 69. 3. What decides is the woman’s status at the hour of the vow, not the one she will have (seifim 34 and 35).
The intention has two objects: the person and the vow (seif 31). An error about either brings the annulment down, unless repaired within the span of an utterance — but a vague designation (“a woman in your house”) reaches whoever falls under it (seif 33).
6. By what words — mouth, heart, language
| Formula or act | Effect | Seif |
|---|
| מופר · בטל · אין נדר זה כלום | annuls — these words uproot; but on the third the Mechaber reports a contrary view in the same seif | 37 |
| מחול ליך · מותר ליך · שרוי ליך | does not annul — these are the sage’s words | 37 |
| אי אפשי שתדורי · אין כאן נדר | does not annul | 37 |
| Annulment in thought alone | nothing | 38, 40, 41 |
| Annulment in thought + “take and eat” | annuls | 38, 40 |
| Upholding in thought | upholds — and one no longer retracts | 41 |
| A language the wife does not know | avails | 37 |
| A formula said to vex her | upholds all the same | 37 |
The third word is not settled: the Mechaber closes seif 37 with a contrary view, that of the Rosh and the Tur —
« ויש מי שחולק ואומר דאומר אין נדר זה כלום לא הוי הפרה » (שו״ע יו״ד רל״ד:לז)
— and the Shakh notes that this view nonetheless concedes the word בטל:
« ויש מי שחולק כו׳. אבל באומר בטל מודה » (ש״ך יו״ד רל״ד ס״ק נ״ז).
The Shulchan Arukh does not decide, and neither does this page: the question goes to a Rav.
The Rambam separates annulment (mouth) from voiding (heart, and compulsion) — seifim 39 and 40. The Rama refuses the separation and concludes וכן עיקר: in both, the words “take and eat” are required.
| What he said | Result | Seif |
|---|
| קיים ליכי ומופר ליכי (the upholding made conditional) | annulled — and on another view, upheld | 43 |
| קיים ומופר ליכי (at once) | neither; on the Rambam’s view, upheld | 44 |
| קיים ליכי היום | upheld forever | 45 |
| מופר ליכי למחר | not annulled — and on another view, upheld | 46 |
| קיים ליכי שעה אחת, then silence | upheld | 47 |
| קיים ליכי שעה אחת, then annulment | doubt | 48 |
| קיים ליכי twice, the first released | the second takes effect | 50 |
8. A vow attached to another vow
Four cases, four answers
- A third party attaches himself to her vow — she is permitted, he stays bound: the husband does not uproot (seif 51).
- The husband attaches himself to her vow — he has upheld, and can no longer annul (seif 52).
- She attaches herself to his vow — he annuls hers, his own stands (seif 53).
- He made her vow like him — as a statement: he cannot annul; as a question: he annuls, and his own vow falls with it (seif 54, left בצריך עיון by the Nekudot HaKesef).
9. Which vows are reached — and which are not
| Category | Reach of the annulment | Examples in the siman |
|---|
| עינוי נפש | lifted forever, and even as regards others (55) | washing and adornment (59); the fruits of the world, of a land, of one man (60); a kind that is bad for her (61); going out, singing, hearing (62) |
| דברים שבינו לבינה | lifted only while there is profit for him — while she is under him, and, after divorce, so long as she has not remarried; once she remarries the vow takes effect for him too (55) | marital relations (66, 67); the work she does for him (69, 71) |
| Neither | no annulment at all (55) | putting fodder before his cattle (72); drinking a remedy to conceive (74) |
| What is already owed | no vow, so nothing to annul (67, 73) — and the Shakh adds that one annuls as a precaution (ס״ק צ״ב), which the Taz disputes (ס״ק ס״ג) | washing his face, mixing his cup, making his bed (73) |
For the father the Shulchan Arukh does not decide: three views at seif 58. The Shakh (ס״ק ע״ב) leans to assimilating her to the wife; the Ba’er Hetev reports it (ס״ק נ).
10. הפרה is not התרה: the thread running through the siman
The same difference is put to work in several places in the siman. To hold them together is to hold the siman.
| Seif | What is at stake |
|---|
| 23 | Does a husband’s upholding bar a sage from releasing? The Mechaber says no; the Rama at length reports the contrary view and returns to the Mechaber. |
| 24 | One annuls on Shabbat without a Shabbat need, whereas the sage releases only for a need — Shakh ס״ק מ. |
| 36 | The principle “released in part, released in whole” does not pass to annulment — Taz ס״ק ל״ג. |
| 37 | The words that release with a sage do not annul with the husband — Shakh ס״ק נ״ו. |
| 49 | One asks release of an upholding, never of an annulment. |
| 51 | The governing sentence: they אינם עוקרים הנדר מעיקרו כמו החכם, and the attached third party stays bound. |
| 57 | The father may sit as a sage for his daughter; the husband may not for his wife. |
This page is a revision, not an authorisation. Nothing above is practised without a Rav.
11. Master table: the 74 seifim in the order of the book
The previous sections arrange the siman by mechanism. This one restores the order of the Shulchan Arukh, which remains the only reference point: to cite, follow this table.
| Seif | What the seif settles |
|---|
| א · 1 | the father annuls his daughter’s vows, and until when |
| ב · 2 | the husband annuls alone, from the חופה to the divorce |
| ג · 3 | the conditional גט, or one at a term |
| ד · 4 | the marriage that is none |
| ה · 5 | the two together: the betrothed נערה |
| ו · 6 | one who has upheld can no longer annul with the other |
| ז · 7 | the יבם does not annul |
| ח · 8 | on the way to the חופה: in whose hands the power still lies |
| ט · 9 | she came of age before either of them heard |
| י · 10 | the formula the Torah scholars pronounce before the חופה |
| יא · 11 | the betrothed dies: she returns to her father’s domain |
| יב · 12 | married, or handed over: no return |
| יג · 13 | divorced then betrothed again: the father and the last betrothed |
| יד · 14 | married, divorced, then betrothed: the vow stands |
| טו · 15 | the father dies after the betrothal |
| טז · 16 | the betrothed dies before he heard |
| יז · 17 | the betrothed dies and she is betrothed again: the father and the last |
| יח · 18 | divorced and re-betrothed the same day, even a hundred times |
| יט · 19 | neither father nor betrothed had heard |
| כ · 20 | the limit of the return: death yes, divorce no |
| כא · 21 | the day he heard, and that day only |
| כב · 22 | a mistake about the formula, and ignorance of the deadline |
| כג · 23 | after the husband’s upholding, may a sage still release? |
| כד · 24 | annulling on Shabbat, and how one says it |
| כה · 25 | annulling without having heard, and the case of the deaf |
| כו · 26 | the שוטה does not annul |
| כז · 27 | a minor does not annul, for want of a marital bond |
| כח · 28 | before the vow, no; after the vow and before it takes effect, yes |
| כט · 29 | annulling for two at once |
| ל · 30 | neither upholding nor annulment may be delegated |
| לא · 31 | the annulment must aim at this woman and this vow |
| לב · 32 | the second knowing opens a second day |
| לג · 33 | the error that does not bar: “a woman in your house” |
| לד · 34 | everything is decided at the hour of the vow |
| לה · 35 | a widow at the hour of the vow: nothing helps |
| לו · 36 | annulling part: the Mechaber divides, the Rama does not |
| לז · 37 | in what language, and by what words |
| לח · 38 | annulment in thought, and the words that carry it |
| לט · 39 | the difference between annulling and voiding |
| מ · 40 | the mouth for annulment, the heart for voiding — and the Rama disputes |
| מא · 41 | the heart upholds and does not annul |
| מב · 42 | “I meant to annul for her”: when he is believed |
| מג · 43 | “upheld and annulled,” with the upholding made conditional |
| מד · 44 | “upheld and annulled” said at once |
| מה · 45 | “upheld for you today” holds forever |
| מו · 46 | “annulled for you tomorrow”: nothing, or an upholding |
| מז · 47 | “upheld for one hour,” and the day has passed |
| מח · 48 | “upheld for one hour,” then annulled: a doubt |
| מט · 49 | regretting an upholding, and regretting an annulment |
| נ · 50 | two upholdings, one request |
| נא · 51 | the sentence that defines annulment by what it is not |
| נב · 52 | attaching oneself to her vow counts as upholding |
| נג · 53 | the reverse: she attaches herself to his vow |
| נד · 54 | “I am a nazirite, and you”: the question and the statement |
| נה · 55 | which vows the husband annuls: the governing rule |
| נו · 56 | the husband as agent to ask on his wife’s vow |
| נז · 57 | the husband does not sit, the father does |
| נח · 58 | does the father annul beyond the two categories? Three views |
| נט · 59 | what self-affliction is: washing and adornment |
| ס · 60 | forbidding oneself fruit, from the whole world to a single man |
| סא · 61 | even a kind that is bad for her |
| סב · 62 | not to go, not to sing, not to hear |
| סג · 63 | two loaves, distress over one |
| סד · 64 | “I shall take no benefit from people”: two views |
| סה · 65 | the husband is not included in “people” |
| סו · 66 | the definition of matters between him and her |
| סז · 67 | the formula decides |
| סח · 68 | a vow aimed at every man in the world |
| סט · 69 | a vow hanging on what she does for him |
| ע · 70 | what she does not owe, he cannot annul |
| עא · 71 | “what I do at your bidding”: he annuls because of the future |
| עב · 72 | the third category: what nobody annuls |
| עג · 73 | what is already owed needs no annulment |
| עד · 74 | the last seif, and it is not in the heading’s count |
Going further
Siman 234 reads on four levels, each answering a different question:
The sources of this level may be consulted on Sefaria:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
DAAT · הרב יוסף חיים סממה
תלמיד חכם · מעביר שיעורים בהלכה ובחסידות
סימן רל״ד · Level 3 — Synthesis · מתי האב והבעל מפירין ומתי מפירין שניהם יחד
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