התרת נדרים | Hatarat Nedarim: The Release of Vows, by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=5238
open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Date: 2012-09-16
Last Updated: 2025-03-27
Categories: Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Repenting, Resetting, and Reconciliation
Tags: beit din, ecoḥasid, friends, judgement, Renewal, vows
Excerpt: Almost everyone who is Jewish knows that Kol Nidre is about releasing vows and has participated in the ceremony. Few know the parallel ritual done in small groups before Rosh Hashanah. Traditionally, right before Rosh Hashanah one performs this simple ritual with three friends, each in turn becoming the petitioner, while the other three act as the beit din, the judges in a court. The ritual is a wonderful way to enter the holidays as well as to prepare oneself for what will happen on Yom Kippur. . . .
Content:
Almost everyone who is Jewish knows that Kol Nidre is about releasing vows and has participated in the ceremony. Few know the parallel ritual done in small groups before Rosh Hashanah. Traditionally, right before Rosh Hashanah one performs this simple ritual with three friends, each in turn becoming the petitioner, while the other three act as the beit din, the judges in a court. The ritual is a wonderful way to enter the holidays as well as to prepare oneself for what will happen on Yom Kippur.
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Source (English) |
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Petitioner:
My friends,
I ask the three of you to serve as judges in the court
that is empowered to release one from vows.
Will you please serve for me in this capacity?
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The judges:
Yes, we are prepared to hear you.
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Petitioner:
What follows is not intended
to void promises I made to other people
from which only they can release me.
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In the last year I have from time to time made vows,
sometimes speaking them out loud or had an intention,
a resolution to change something in my actions, behavior and attitude in my mind.
Some of these are in relation to myself, my body, my mind, and my soul.
Some of these deal with the way in which I conduct myself in relation to other people.
And most of all, there are those that deal with my relation to God.
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Sometimes I took on a practice or a custom
and did it at least three times
and have since either willingly or unwillingly abandoned it
and I know that this, too, has the power of a vow.
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Many times when I ask for prayers for some people
whether they are prayers for healing, for blessing
or for the repose of souls departed,
in which the formula includes,
“Because I shall contribute to tsedakah”
and I may have forgotten to do that or not been aware,
I ask you to release me from that, too.
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All these I regret
and I ask you to recognize my regret
and release me from all those vows.
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The judges:
Hearing your regret, we release you.
All is forgiven,
all is released,
and may it be that
in the same way that we here below
release you from these vows and obligations,
so may you be released from the court above from the same.
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Petitioner:
As I stand here
and I am aware of my fickle nature
in matters of vows, promises and resolutions,
I hereby declare that for the coming year,
should I again offer such vows, promises and resolutions,
they should have no effect
and not become binding on me.
At this moment I regret any of these
and do not wish them to be valid.
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The judges:
We have heard your declaration
and consider it licit and legal.
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May you be blessed with a good year,
inscribed in the book of life and sealed for good.
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Reb Zalman’s Hatarat Nedarim in English first appeared at Reb Dovid Seidenberg’s neohasid.org. We are grateful to Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi for contributing his work with a CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported license. Reb Zalman was the first contributor of a copyrighted work, his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yedaber Pi, with a free-culture license and with the help of the Open Siddur Project.
Contributor: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Co-authors:
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Name: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Bio: Rabbi Dr. Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi, affectionately known as "Reb Zalman" (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014) was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement. Born in Żółkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) and raised in Vienna, he was interned in detention camps under the Vichy Regime but managed to flee the Nazi advance, emigrating to the United States in 1941. He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in 1947 within the ḤaBaD Hasidic movement while under the leadership of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and served ḤaBaD communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He subsequently earned an M.A. in psychology of religion at Boston University, and a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He was initially sent out to speak on college campuses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but in the early 1960s, after experimenting with "the sacramental value of lysergic acid", the main ingredient in LSD, leadership within ḤaBaD circles cut ties with him. He continued teaching the Torah of Ḥassidut until the end of his life to creative, free and open-minded Jewish thinkers with humility and kindness and established warm ecumenical ties as well. In September 2009, he became the first contributor of a siddur to the Open Siddur Project database of Jewish liturgy and related work. Reb Zalman supported the Open Siddur Project telling its founder, "this is what I've been looking forward to!" and sharing among many additional works of liturgy, an interview he had with Havurah magazine in the early to mid-1980s detailing his vision of "Database Davenen." The Open Siddur Project is proud to be realizing one of Reb Zalman's long held dreams.
Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalman_Schachter-Shalomi
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/zalman-schachter-shalomi
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Title: Three Amigos by Vince Alongi (CC-BY 2.0)
Caption: Image: Three Amigos by Vince Alongi (License: CC-BY 2.0)