QUESTION: The Gemara asks that if a person makes a Neder sometime during the Yovel
cycle prohibiting wine upon himself for the Yovel cycle, is he prohibited from wine
during the upcoming Yovel year itself (the fiftieth year of the Yovel cycle). The
Gemara concludes that it depends on the Machlokes between Rebbi Yehudah and the
Rabanan concerning the status of the Yovel year, the fiftieth year. The Rabanan
maintain that the Yovel year serves as the fiftieth and final year of the Yovel
cycle, and it does not serve as the first year of the next cycle. According to the
Rabanan, the Yovel year *is* included in the person's Neder. Rebbi Yehudah, on the
other hand, maintains that the Yovel year is not only the fiftieth and final year of
the Yovel cycle, but it also serves as the first year of the next Yovel cycle. Since
it is the first year of the next cycle, it is not included in the person's Neder.
According to Rebbi Yehudah, why should the Yovel year not be included in the Neder?
It is true that according to Rebbi Yehudah, it is the first year of the next cycle --
but it is also the fiftieth and final year of the present cycle, and hence it should
be included in the Neder! (KEREN ORAH)
ANSWER: The KEREN ORAH says that according to Rebbi Yehudah, the Yovel year is
associated mainly with the following cycle.
The Keren Orah's explanation is not clear. What does he mean? Why should the Yovel
year, which counts, according to Rebbi Yehudah, as both the fiftieth year of the
present cycle and the first year of the next cycle, *not* be associated with the
present cycle with regard to the Neder?
Perhaps the Keren Orah means to say as follows. The Rabanan challenge Rebbi Yehudah
and say that one year cannot be counted with two different numbers. If it is the
fiftieth year of the present cycle, then it cannot be the first year of the next
cycle as well. How does Rebbi Yehudah respond to this challenge?
It could be that Rebbi Yehuadh agrees with the Rabanan on this point, that one year
cannot counted as two separate numbers. Rebbi Yehudah, however, infers from the
verse, "You shall sanctify the fiftieth year" (Vayikra 25:10), that the fiftieth year
is to be *sanctified* but there is no requirement to *count* the year. The other
forty-nine years of the cycle, on the other hand, are required to be *counted*, as
the Torah says, "You shall count for yourself seven cycles of seven years, and they
shakl be for your... forty-nine years" (Vayikra 25:8). According to Rebbi Yehudah,
then, the requirement is to *count* the forty-nine years, and then to *sanctify* the
fiftieth year, but that fiftieth year is not part of the count. Hence, according to
Rebbi Yehudah, the Yovel year is *counted* only as the *first* year of the next
cycle, and that is why it is not included in one's Neder that applies to the years of
the count of the present cycle! (M. Kornfeld)