For the source text click/tap here: Nedarim 23
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The first four mishnayoth of this chapter deal with vows that use valid language but are nevertheless not valid because the person did not really intend for his vow to be valid.
"A woman who took a nazirite vow and was [illicitly] drinking wine and defiling herself with the dead she is to be punished with lashes.
[However] if her husband had annulled her vow but she did not know that he had done so and was drinking wine and defiling herself with the dead she is not to be punished with lashes”
By luck of the draw the woman escapes punishment. Tried as she may, she did nothing wrong.
After all are her actions or intent really any different just because her husband -unbeknownst to her - annulled the vow?
We explore the notion of intentionality in performance of Mitzvot including Don Seeman’s monograph on the RAMBAM and the need for ta’amei Mitzvot not merely performative,
and some recent theories regarding ethics and intention.