Q&A: Vow
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Vow
Question
Hello Rabbi, is there any problem with making a vow not to commit a prohibition from the Torah or from the rabbis, and even limiting the vow to a defined period of time? The idea is to strengthen one's aversion to the prohibition.
Answer
These are vows of encouragement. See Nedarim 8a and elsewhere. This is mainly relevant to oaths, because vows do take effect with regard to a commandment-related matter (see Nedarim 15, although one could still analyze the issue when there is no concrete object involved).