In order to be free of the negative consequences of violating a shvu’ah or a neder, the shvu’ah or neder themselves must be annulled. Nullification is referred to as a petach, literally a door. The rabbis from whom the person seeks annulment will attempt to find him a petach, a way out of the neder or shvu’ah. There are two possible grounds for doing this. One is that the shvu’ah or neder was made without the proper intent or by mistake – ta’ut. The other petach is referred to as charatah, and means the shvu’ah or neder was made in a state of unsettled mind.
A shvu’ah or neder is made without the proper intent or by mistake if the person was unaware of all its consequences at the time he that uttered it. Had Yiftach known the first person to come out of the door of his house to meet him would be his own daughter, he would never have uttered the neder to sacrifice her.
A shvu’ah or neder is made in a state of unsettled mind if the person uttered it in a fit of anger or impetuously and the person now regrets his anger or haste. The annulment, whether on the grounds of improper intent or regret, is made today before a court of three. The effect of the annulment is retroactive, as if the shvu’ah or neder had never been made. In addition, a father may revoke the vows of his daughter under the age of twelve and a half and a husband may revoke certain vows uttered by his wife that either afflict the wife or have a detrimental effect on the marital relationship.
Vows may also be annulled prospectively. “One who wishes that his nedarim should be ineffective all year long should arise on Rosh Hashanah and say that any neder he I shall declare in the future shall be null. Such a declaration is effective provided that he does not remember this disclaimer at the time of the neder.” The foregoing passage from Talmud Nedarim is the basis for the ceremony of hatarat nedarim, annulment of vows, made by all of us before a court of three or ten on Erev Rosh Hashanah, in which we cancel all vows we might make in the coming year.
Judaism, which celebrates the joy of life, frowns upon voluntary restrictions. That which God has permitted to us we should not prohibit unto ourselves. Wine is a good example. Rather than prohibit it, God asks us to drink wine in order to sanctify the Shabbat and ourselves. “If one declares a neder,” says the Talmud, “it is as if one has built a false altar.”
Just as God has no desire for sacrifices that are not offered up in His Holy Temple, he has no desire for self-sacrifices that are not required by His holy Torah. However, if notwithstanding His distaste for making one’s own life unnecessarily difficult, you make a neder, you must get it annulled. So important is the requirement of annulling vows that we dare not enter the Day of Judgment with unfulfilled vows on our ledger. That is why we commence the Yom Kippur service with Kol Nidrei, the annulment of vows.