Q&A: Vow
Vow
Question
Hello Rabbi,
A person vowed that he would no longer submit a Winner form, and that Winner would henceforth be forbidden to him, and the like.
Now he wants to go back to filling out Winner forms. What does he need to do? What if that person was at Rosh Hashanah for Kol Nidrei—does that help? After all, they say there that whatever I may vow or swear should not take effect on me.
Answer
There are opinions that the annulment of vows on Rosh Hashanah releases all such vows. But if you explicitly made a vow, and this was not merely a good practice, then in my opinion there is serious doubt whether that helps. After all, when you made the vow, you knew that you had done an annulment on Rosh Hashanah, and despite that you still made the vow. It stands to reason that you intended it to take effect nonetheless. Especially since I am sure you meant it seriously, and it does not appear that anything has changed now.
It may perhaps be possible to permit it on the basis of regret, and not by means of an opening— or that the regret itself would serve as the opening— but that too is problematic. In my opinion, the best course is to continue and keep this vow.