If we make a vow contrary to something that is permitted or forbidden according to Torah law, then it is as if we have said nothing. Well, at least that is the case if we are Torah scholars. But if we are ignoramuses - like almost everyone today as we are not experts in Torah law - then such vows must be dissolved by a halachic authority. Similarly, if we make a vow that upsets rabbinic law, the rabbis want us to dissolve that law by speaking with a halachic authority. The rabbis provide a number of examples of these circumstances.
One of their examples involves a vow that compares an object to a Torah scroll. To better understand why the vow might or might not go into effect, the rabbis wonder about the scroll itself. Was the person's vow regarding the scroll itself or the words/verses within the scroll? Was the scroll on the ground at the time and thus not written in? If a person were making a vow regarding the words inside of the scroll, then their vow would go into effect. This is because verses from the Torah invoke G-d's name. A blank scroll, however, is meaningless.
Our daf ends with a new Mishna. It teaches that if a person vows something impossible, the vow does not go into effect. For example, one should not say, "sleeping is for me as if an offering, konam". Likewise, one cannot vow to abstain from speaking, walking, or engaging in sexual intercourse with his [sic] wife. This is because "He should not profane his word" (Number 30:3).
The Gemara begins with an analysis of stating that sleeping is konam. What if one limits their vow to only one day? Would the knowledge that sleep will come tomorrow change one's thinking or one's practice?
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