Mishnah Nedarim 8

¹[If one vows,] “Konam, if I taste wine today,” he is forbidden only until it gets dark. “This Sabbath,” he is forbidden the whole week and the Sabbath belongs to the past [week]; “This month,” he is forbidden the whole of that month, and the beginning of the [following] month belongs to the next month. “This year,” he is forbidden the whole year, and the beginning of the [following] year belongs to the next year. “This week of years,” he is forbidden the whole of that week of years, and the [following] sabbatical year belongs to the past. But if he says, “One day,” “One Sabbath,” “One month,” “One year,” [or] “One week of years,” he is forbidden from day to day. ²[If one vows,] “Until Pesach,” he is forbidden until it arrives; “Until it is [Pesach],” he is forbidden until it is completed. “Until before Pesach,”: Rabbi Meir says: he is forbidden until it arrives; Rabbi Yose says: he is forbidden until it is completed. ³[If he vows,] “Until the grain harvest, “Until the grape harvest”, or, “Until the olive harvest,” he is forbidden only until it arrives. This is a general rule: Whatever has a fixed time and one vows, “Until it arrives,” he is forbidden until it arrives; if he says, “Until it be”, he is forbidden until it is over. But whatever has no fixed time, whether he says, “Until it be,” or “Until it arrives,” he is forbidden only until it arrives. ⁴[If he says,] “Until the summer,” or, “Until the summer shall be,” [he is forbidden] until people begin to bring [the figs] home in baskets. “Until the summer [harvest] is past,” [he is forbidden] until the knives are folded up [and put away]. [If he vows,] “Until the harvest,” [he is forbidden] until the people begin reaping the wheat harvest, but not the barley harvest. It all depends on the place where he vowed: if in hill-country, the hill-country [harvest]; if in the valley, the valley harvest. ⁵[If one vows,] “Until the rains,” [or], “Until the rains shall be”, [he is forbidden] until the second rainfall descends. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: until the [normal] time for the [second] rainfall is reached. [If one vows,] “Until the rains cease,” [he is forbidden] until all of Nisan is completed, the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Judah says: Until Pesach is over. [If one vows,] “Konam that I taste not wine for a year”, if the year is intercalated, he is forbidden during the year and its extension. [If one says,] “Until the beginning of Adar,” [he is forbidden] until the beginning of the first Adar; “Until the end of Adar,” until the end of the first Adar. Rabbi Judah says: [If one vows, “Konam that I taste no wine until Pesach shall be,” he is forbidden only until Pesach night, for he meant until the hour when people usually drink wine. ⁶If he vows, “Konam that I taste no meat until the fast [i.e., Yom Kippur] shall be,” he is forbidden only until the eve of the fast, for he merely meant until people usually eat meat. Rabbi Yose, his son, says: “Konam, that I not taste garlic until the Sabbath,” he is forbidden only until Sabbath eve [i.e., Friday night], for he meant, until it is customary for people to eat garlic. ⁷If one says to his neighbor “Konam, what I benefit from you, if you do not come and take for your sons a kor of wheat and two barrels of wine,” the latter may annul his vow without the release of a sage, by declaring, “Did you vow for any other purpose but to honor me? This [refusal] is my honor.” Similarly, if one says to his neighbor, “Konam, what you benefit from me, if you do not give my son a kor of wheat and two barrels of wine”: Rabbi Meir says: he is forbidden until he gives; But the Sages say: he too can annul his vow without the release of a sage, by saying to him, “I regard it as though I have received it.” If they were urging him to marry his sister’s daughter, and he said, “Konam, what she benefits from me forever”; Likewise, if he is divorcing his wife and he said, “Konam, what my wife benefits from me forever,” they are permitted to benefit from him, because he meant only marriage. If he was urging his neighbor to eat at his house, and he replied, “Konam be your house which I do not enter,” or, “The drop of water that I do not drink,” he may enter his house and drink cold water because he only meant eating and drinking in general.