Nedarim 62b (סב:) — the Talmud in English

To open first,

in the reading of the Torah.

And to bless first,

the Birkat HaMazon.

And to take a choice portion first,

that is: If a kohen and an Israelite come to divide some item, the Israelite makes two equal portions of it, and the kohen chooses whichever one he wishes.

Rava said:

It is permitted for a Torah scholar to say

[It is permitted for a Torah scholar to say to the Jewish tax collectors who collect the king's tax from the townspeople]:

I will not pay the akragas

[I will not pay the tax], because since he is exempt by law, as the Gemara proceeds to explain, he is permitted to say this so that they will not seize his property.

As it is written

in the Book of Ezra [7:24]: “And to you it is made known [I inform you, the officials appointed over the tax] that all the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, netinim, and those who perform the service of this House of God

shall have no authority to impose upon them minda, belo, or halakh

[These types of taxes; the government has neither power nor authority to impose them upon them]”.

And

Rabbi Yehuda

explained: “

Minda” —

this is the king's portion

[the collection of taxes that they regularly impose upon the inhabitants of the country]. “

Belo” —

this is the poll tax

[a tax assessed per head]. “

And halakh”:

this is arnona

[the king's banquet when he travels from place to place]. And in connection with the laws stated above, he added

and Rava said:

It is permitted to him

even

for a Torah scholar to say

to the king's officials who collect his taxes:

I am a servant of fire

[I am a servant of a man who is a priest of the fire worshippers, whose servants are exempt from the tax], and therefore

I will not pay the akragas

[I will not pay the tax].

What is the reason

that he is permitted to say this, and we do not fear that by his words he appears to acknowledge idolatry?

Because

he said it only to drive away a lion from himself

[he said it only to drive away a lion from himself], meaning: This is not like acknowledging idolatry, because it is evident that he is doing so only in order to exempt himself from the tax.

Rav Ashi had a certain forest

[a forest]

which he sold to the fire worshippers,

who kindled the fire in their house of idolatry.

Ravina said to Rav Ashi:

But you are causing them to stumble through idolatry, and

is there not

the prohibition of

“You shall not place a stumbling block before the blind”!?

He said to him

Rav Ashi said to Ravina: “

Most wood is designated for kindling,”

and it is not as though he sold it to them for use in idolatrous worship, since it can be assumed that they took the forest to use as fuel for heating and not for idolatry; and whenever it is possible to interpret the matter permissibly, we do so.

Mishna:

One who said: “Konam, I will not taste wine

until the harvest”—

He is forbidden to drink wine

until the people begin to harvest the wheat harvest,

since it is the important harvest in people's eyes, and this harvest is referred to simply as “the harvest,”

but not until the barley harvest.

Nevertheless,

everything follows the place where he made his vow,

so that if in the place where he made his vow the barley harvest is referred to simply as “the harvest,” he too is forbidden until the barley harvest.

And likewise, one follows the place where he made his vow:

If he was

at the time of his vow

in the mountain region—

the time at which his vow ends is established as the beginning of the harvest

in the mountain region,

even though he descended to the valley and the harvest had already begun there.

And if he was

at the time of his vow

in the valley—

the time is established according to the way it is

in the valley.

And if he said, “

until the rains,” or even if he said, “

until the rains

will be,” he is forbidden until

the second rainfall

the second reviyya begins to fall

[begins to fall]

the second rainfall.

[the second period of rainfall].

And the Mishna teaches us:

a. If he did not specify which reviyya, the anonymous meaning is until the second reviyya, which does not come as early as the first reviyya and does not come as late as the third reviyya.

b. Although he said “until the rains will be,” his wording is not interpreted as meaning until the rains have ended, since the duration of rainfall is not fixed, as we learned in the Mishna above, 61b.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says:

He is not forbidden until the second reviyya has fallen, but rather

until the time of the second reviyya arrives,

even if the rain has not fallen.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel's reason is that the time of rainfall is not fixed, since sometimes it is delayed. Therefore, we say that his vow takes effect when the time for its falling arrives, and not when it actually falls, because a person does not prohibit himself for a period whose duration is not fixed.

And if he said, “

until the rains cease,”

he is forbidden

until the entire month of Nisan has ended,

because it is customary for rain to fall throughout the month—

the statement of Rabbi Meir.

Rabbi Yehuda says: Until Passover has passed.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: Everything follows the place where he made his vow: If he was in the mountain region, it follows the mountain region, and if he was in the valley, it follows the valley.

It was taught in a beraita:

One who vows “

until summer”

when he was

in the Galilee, and descended

after making his vow

to the valleys,

where the fruit ripens earlier than in the Galilee—

even though summer has arrived in the valleys,

he remains

forbidden until it arrives in the Galilee,

because “everything follows the place where he made his vow.”

We learned in the Mishna:

“Until the rains,” “until there are rains,” until the second reviyya begins to fall; Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says:

until the time of the reviyya arrives:

Rabbi Zeira said:

The dispute is when he says “

until the rains”;

but if he says “

until the rain,”

everyone—both Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and the Sages—agrees that he said, “

until the time of the rains”

is what he said,

even if the rains have not fallen.

The reason is that, according to the fundamental law, we should say that anyone who says “until the rain” or “until the rains,” since sometimes the rain does not arrive at its appointed time, does not prohibit himself with regard to something whose time is not fixed; therefore, it is presumed that he said “until the time when the rains fall.”

Rather, the Sages maintain that since he said “until the rains” and did not say “until the rain,” he intended to include the actual rain, and this is the dispute between Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and the Sages.