Nedarim 81 - Shabbat January 14, 21 Tevet

Today’s daf is sponsored by Judy Schwartz in memory of her mother Shirley Tydor, Sara Raizel bat Mordechai Yitzchak and Freida Sima on what would have been her 94th birthday. “May she be a melitzat yosher for her beloved granddaughters zivug hagun bikarov mamash.” How is the contradiction between what Rabbi Yosi says in our Mishna and what Rabbi Yosi says regarding a spring shared by two cities reconciled? A distinction is made between the importance of having clean clothes, as dirty clothes can lead to madness, and a clean body, which does not cause the same. In the context of problems that arise from dirt, a statement was sent from Israel stating the importance of three things - cleanliness, good company, and teaching Torah to poor people. Why is it that many Torah scholars do not have sons who become Torah scholars? There are five different answers to this question. Isi bar Yehuda did not understand how Rabbi Yosi could have held that one city's laundry can take precedence over the other's life. Rabbi Yosi's son found a verse from which this can be derived. If Rabbi Yosi doesn't hold that refraining from bathing is an affliction of the soul, can the husband nullify that kind of vow anyway as it is something that can affect the relationship between husband and wife? Or does he not put it in that category? There is a debate among amoraim about this. A braita is brought to support the opinion that Rabbi Yosi would allow the husband to nullify that vow. Some questions arise from the braita quoted and they are answered. Rava asks Rav Nachman if a vow to refrain from sexual relations is considered an affliction of the soul or something that affects the relationship between the husband and wife.