Nedarim נדרים
a tractate of the order of Nashim
A word spoken aloud creates a prohibition: a person may forbid himself bread, benefit from his fellow, entry into another's house. The tractate begins with language: which expressions, even incomplete ones, make a vow and which remain empty words.
The second half is about untying: a sage finds an "opening", a circumstance the one who vowed had not considered, and the vow proves void from the start. From here come the annulment of vows on the eve of Rosh Hashanah and the words of Kol Nidrei. Because so many vows are made between relatives, the tractate turns out to be a book about quarrels and reconciliation as well.
Order: Nashim. There is Gemara in both the Babylonian and the Jerusalem Talmud.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Mishnah Nedarim 1:1 — which expressions make a vow
- Mishnah Nedarim 9:1 — the «openings» for releasing a vow
Basis: Talmud and midrash.