Laws of Optional Restrictions

Hatarat Nedarim (the annulment of vows) is a legal process which allows one to cancel a vow by reciting a text in the presence of three people. It is customary to perform hatarat nedarim in the days leading up to Rosh HaShanah or Yom Kippur, in a version of the ceremony that involves cancelling all vows taken in the past and to be taken in the future.

A Nazirite, or nazir in Hebrew, is an individual who vows abstinence from wine, haircuts, and ritual impurity generated from contact with corpses. Laws relating to Nazirites are described in Numbers 6:1-21 and are the focus of tractate Nazir in the Mishnah and Talmud.

A neder is a vow taken voluntarily. A vow can forbid one from deriving pleasure from particular objects or actions, obligate one to perform an action in the future, or declare that an individual is becoming a Nazirite, among other functions. Stories of vows feature throughout the Bible, and many laws relating to vows are derived from Numbers 30.