## Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Annulment of Vows before Rosh HaShana

###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Annulment of Vows before Rosh HaShana 1
[Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Annulment of Vows before Rosh HaShana 1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Festivals,_Annulment%20of%20Vows%20before%20Rosh%20HaShana/r/1)

**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:**
ANNULMENT OF VOWS
To avoid entering the High Holy Days under the pressure of unfulfilled undertakings to God, our custom is to annul or “release” vows on the morning before Rosh HaShana. A similar, though more solemn, ceremony takes place immediately prior to Yom Kippur in the form of *Kol Nidrei*.
Judaism is a religion that stresses the sanctity of language, especially when used to accept or impose obligations on oneself. Deep significance attaches to vows and other verbal undertakings: “If a man makes a vow to God, or makes an oath to obligate himself, he must not break his word. He must do everything he said” (Num. 30:3). In general, it is preferable not to invest voluntary commitments with the sacred status of a vow. “If you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty” (Deut. 23:23). “It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it” (Eccl. 5:4).
The undertakings involved here relate to vows made to God in respect of behavior not categorically demanded or forbidden by Jewish law. The declaration covers a range of such commitments. A *neder* is a vow forbidding something to oneself; an *isar* is a more general category of self-imposed prohibition. A *shevu’a* is an oath relating to action rather than an object: a promise to do or not to do a certain act. A *ḥerem* renders an object forbidden by designating it as sacred property; a *konam* designates it as if it were a sacrifice. *Nezirut*, the acceptance, usually for a period of thirty days, of the status of a nazirite (Num. 6:1–21), involves abstaining from wine or grapes, cutting one’s hair, or contact with a corpse.
The basis of release is regret: had one known what one knows now, one would not have undertaken the vow. The release is performed by three adult men sitting as a court, and its effect is retroactive: it is as if the vow had never been made. The entire process emphasizes the solemnity of verbal commitments. We must be true to our word and never lightly promise to do what we may not be able to fulfill.