For the source text click/tap here: Nedarim 80
To download, click/tap here: PDF
We have learned that the only vows that a husband has the ability to nullify are nedarim that affect the personal relationship between husband and wife – bein ish le-ishto – or nedarim that are considered vows that make her suffer – innuy nefesh. How do we define innuy nefesh?
Our daf questions whether the inability to bathe should be considered innuy nefesh, since we find that on Yom Kippur – a day on which the Torah commands us to suffer innuy nefesh (see Vayikra 23:27) – only people who eat, drink or perform work will suffer the punishment of karet for desecrating the day. Since bathing, while forbidden, is not punishable, it would seem that it is not truly a situation of innuy nefesh.
Rava answers that the Torah distinguishes between the requirement for immediate innuy nefesh on Yom Kippur and the long-term innuy nefesh implied in a neder.
We explore the purifying properties of bathing and ablution in other cultures from early Roman baths in England to Lourdes and Japanese purifying bowls.