Everyone understands that one cannot lend to someone who is not permitted by vow from benefiting from another. But borrowing from that person is also not allowed. The rabbis question what the benefit might be in borrowing. They turn to the halachot about receiving a loan and purchasing from that person. Both are forbidden. The rabbis wonder if the borrowing might lead to lending, thus the stringency.
A new Mishna teaches us about another way to sneak around one's vows. The rabbis offer three cases where a friend can do just that. In the first case, a person can say that his friend needs food and the storekeeper will use credit to provide that food. In the second case, a person can say that his friend needs help with physical labour (housebuilding, fence building, etc.) but that the vow is in effect. The work will be done and payment will go to the friend. In the third case, a person can give his friend food while travelling by giving the food to another person to pass on, or he can leave the food on a rock, etc., to be taken by his friend.
Like a gift, ownership is not established until an item is actually passed from one person to another. Thus an intermediary allows the transaction to take place halachically. The rabbis note that these halachot can only be used in exceptional circumstances.
We learn that when a person makes a vow on his or her deathbed and then recovers, the vow does is no longer valid. But if that same person includes him/herself as one of the recipients, then the vow is valid, for s/he knew that s/he was not dying. The rabbis compare this with other situations, noting that there are differences between the first and the second; is the second simply a remnant of the first?
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