Nedarim 62b — the Talmud in English

To open first,

in the reading of the Torah.

And to bless first,

the blessing of the food.

And to take a fine portion first,

that is to say: if a koen and an Israelite come to divide some matter, the Israelite makes two equal portions of it, and the koen chooses whichever of them 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 inhabitants of the city:

I shall not give the akragah

[I do not pay tax], since, as he proceeds to explain, he is exempt according to the law; it is therefore permitted for him to say this so that they should not rob his property.

As it is written

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

tribute, tax, and levy, it is not permitted to impose upon them

[of these kinds of taxes, there is no government or authority to impose them upon them].”

And

Rav Yehuda

explained: “

Tribute” —

this is the king’s portion

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

Tax” —

this is the poll tax

[a tax according to each head]. “

And levy”:

this is the arnona

[the king’s banquet when he travels from place to place]. And incidentally to the laws stated above, he added

and Rava said:

It is permitted for 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 koen to fire-worshippers, whose servants are exempt from the tax], and therefore

I shall not give the akragah

[I do not pay tax].

What is the reason

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

For

he said it to drive away a lion from himself

[he said it in order to drive away a lion from himself], that is to say: this is not like acknowledging idolatry, for it is evident that he does this only in order to free himself from the tax.

Rav Ashi had a certain forest

[forest]

and sold it to the house of fire,

he sold the forest to fire-worshippers who kindle the fire in their house of idolatry.

Ravina said to Rav Ashi:

But surely you are causing them to sin 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 given for kindling,”

and it is not as though he is selling it to them for serving idolatry, for one may assume that they take the forest in order to kindle it there for heating and not for idolatry; and whenever it is possible to assume a permitted purpose, one does so.

Mishna:

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

until the harvest”—

he is forbidden wine

until the people begin to harvest the wheat harvest,

since it is the important one in people’s eyes, and this harvest they call simply “the harvest,”

but not the barley harvest.

Nevertheless,

everything follows the place of his vow,

for if in the place of his vow they call the barley harvest simply “the harvest,” he too is forbidden until the barley harvest.

And likewise one follows the place of his vow—

If he was

at the time of his vow

in the mountain region—

the time for the conclusion of his vow is fixed as when the harvest began

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 fixed according to how it is

in the valley.

And if he said, “

until the rains,”

or even if he said, “

until there are rains,”

he is forbidden until

the

[begin to] fall,

the second rainfall.

[the second time of the falling of the rains].

And the Mishna teaches us:

a. If he did not say until which rainfall, in an unspecified manner it means until the second rainfall, which does not come as early as the first rainfall and does not come as late as the third rainfall.

b. Although he said “until there are rains,” his expression is not interpreted as meaning until the rains have passed, since the duration of the falling of the rains is not fixed, and as we learned in the Mishna above, 61b.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says:

He is not forbidden until the second rainfall descends, but rather

until the time of the rainfall arrives

second, even if they have not descended.

And the reason of Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel is that the falling of the rains has no fixed time, for sometimes it is delayed in falling; we say that his vow takes effect at the time of its falling, and not at its actual falling, since a person does not prohibit himself for a time that is not fixed.

And if he said, “

until the rains cease,”

he is forbidden

until the entire Nisan has gone out,

for throughout the month rains ordinarily fall,

the words of Rabbi Meir.

Rabbi Yehuda says: until Passover has passed.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: everything follows the place of 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:

One who vows “

until the summer”

when he was

in the Galilee, and descended

after he vowed

to the valleys,

where the fruits ripen before [they do in] the Galilee,

even though summer had arrived in the valleys,

he is

forbidden until it arrives in the Galilee,

for “everything follows the place of his vow.”

We learned in the Mishna:

“Until the rains, until there are rains, until the second rainfall descends; Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says:

until the time of the rainfall arrives”:

Rabbi Zeira said:

The dispute is when he said “

until the rains,”

but if he said “

until the rain,”

everyone—the Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel and the Sages—agrees that “

until the time of rain”

he said,

even if the rains did not descend.

And 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 time, a person does not prohibit himself through something that is not fixed, and presumably he said until the time when the rains descend.

But the Sages hold that since he said “until the rains” and did not say “until the rain,” he came to include [the plural], so that he should be forbidden until the actual rain; and Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel and the Sages dispute over this rationale.