Nedarim: Vows in the Season of New Year’s Resolutions

#YourTorah

Ilana Kurshan introduces masekhet Nedarim, explaining the process of making and dissolving vows, and noticing how it's not so different from how we make - and break - new year's resolutions.

Ilana Kurshan is the author of If All the Seas Were Ink, a memoir of Talmud study published by St. Martin's Press. She has translated books of Jewish interest by Ruth Calderon, Benjamin Lau, and Micah Goodman, as well as novels, short stories, and children’s picture books. Her book Why Is This Night Different From Other Nights was published by Schocken in 2005. She is a regular contributor to Lilith Magazine, where she is the Book Reviews Editor, and her writing has appeared in The Forward, The World Jewish Digest, Hadassah, Nashim, Zeek, Kveller, and Tablet. Kurshan is a graduate of Harvard University (BA, summa cum laude, History of Science) and Cambridge University (M.Phil, English Literature). She lives in Jerusalem with her husband and four children.

This YourTorah episode is dedicated by Ilana Kurshan in memory of Rabbi Gershon Schwartz, author of Swimming in the Sea of the Talmud, an accessible and engaging introduction to Talmud study.