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The following is from the commentary of RSRH on Bamidbar 30:4.<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>4
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>But [as for] a woman, if she vows
a vow to </i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica">God
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>and binds [herself] a bond in her
father’s house in her youth,<br><br>
</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>A man’s vow is
binding on him from the outset. He can —<br>
and should (see ibid. 59a; cf. Commentary,
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Devarim
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>23:22ff.) — submit<br>
his vow to the national community and its representatives, so that
they<br>
should examine the vow and decide on its fulfillment. Only in this
way<br>
can a man dissolve his vow. For a man creates his position in life
inde-<br>
pendently, and if he binds himself with a vow that cannot be
absolved,<br>
he introduces into his life a new element that is not ordinarily
applicable.<br>
This element changes and individualizes his life, and, since he is
independent,<br>
he is able to take this individuality into account when he shapes<br>
the conditions of his life.<br><br>
Not so for a woman. The moral greatness of the woman’s calling<br>
requires that she enter a position in life created by another. The
woman<br>
does not build for herself her own home. She enters the home
provided<br>
by the man, and she manages it, bringing happiness to the home and<br>
nurturing everything inside the home in a spirit of sanctity and
orientation<br>
toward God. The woman — even more than the man — must<br>
avoid the constraint of extraordinary guidelines in her life, for they
are<br>
likely to be an impediment to her in the fulfillment of her calling.<br>
From this standpoint, one can understand the prescriptions
instituted<br>
here out of concern for the woman. The Word of God seeks to<br>
insure the vowing woman against the consequences of her own words,<br>
and therefore confers on the father and on the husband a limited<br>
right to annul vows — on the father, as regards vows of a youthful<br>
daughter still under his care; on the father and on the fiancé, as
regards<br>
vows of a betrothed daughter; on the husband, as regards vows of his<br>
wife.<br>
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