For the source text click/tap here: Nedarim 44
To download, click/tap here: PDF
If a person vows that a field will be hefker, ownerless, for a day, a week, a month, a year, or a Sabbatical cycle (seven years), that decision is valid and cannot be retracted.
Or can it? It might depend on when one took possession of the field. If no-one took possession of the field, the decision can be retracted. The rabbis are concerned that people might forget their vows over time.
As well, they are aware that "swindlers" might declare a field ownerless to avoid tithing and then reclaim the field.
We continue our exploration of land ownership in antiquity as well as the status of Palestinian lands from different perspectives.