From where is it derived that one may take an oath to fulfill a mitzva? It is as it is stated: “I have sworn and I have confirmed it, to observe Your righteous ordinances” (Psalms 119:106).

The Gemara asks: Is he not already under oath from when each Jew took an oath at Mount Sinai to fulfill all the mitzvot? An oath cannot take effect if one is already bound by a different oath. Rather, it teaches us this: It is permitted for a man to motivate himself to fulfill the mitzvot in this manner, although the oath is not technically valid.

And Rav Giddel said that Rav said: One who says: I will rise early and study this chapter, or: I will study this tractate, has taken a great vow to the God of Israel. This clearly indicates that the vow takes effect. The Gemara asks: Is he not already under oath due to the general obligation to study Torah? And an oath does not take effect upon a preexisting oath. What is he teaching us? If one claims that Rav Giddel is teaching that such a vow may be made even merely to motivate oneself to study, this is the same as the first statement of Rav Giddel.

The Gemara answers: It teaches us this: Since if he desires he can exempt himself from the obligation to study Torah with the recitation of Shema in the morning and evening, due to that reason the oath takes effect upon him and he is obligated to study the chapter or tractate that he specified.

Rav Giddel said that Rav said: With regard to one who says to another: Let us rise early and study this chapter, and they agree to do so, it is incumbent upon him to rise early and be the first to arrive, because it was his initiative. There is an allusion to this in a verse, as it is stated: “And He said to me: Arise, go forth into the plain, and there I will speak with you. Then I arose and went forth into the plain; and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there” (Ezekiel 3:22–23). God invited Ezekiel to that place, and His glory arrived before Ezekiel did.

§ Rav Yosef said: One who was ostracized in a dream requires ten people to dissolve the ostracism for him. And the ostracism can be dissolved only by those who have studied halakha, i.e., by Torah scholars. However, if they have recited Mishna and have not studied halakha, no, they are not fit to dissolve the ostracism. And if there are not ten people who have studied halakha, then even those who have recited Mishna and have not studied halakha are fit to dissolve the ostracism.

And if there are not even ten people who have studied Mishna, let him go and sit at the crossroads and extend a greeting of shalom, meaning peace, to ten people, who will respond with a similar greeting, until ten individuals who have studied halakha happen to come to him.

Ravina said to Rav Ashi: If he knows who excommunicated him in his dream, what is the halakha? Can that individual dissolve the excommunication for him? Rav Ashi said to him: It is possible that he was appointed by Heaven as an agent to excommunicate him, but he was not appointed as an agent to dissolve the excommunication for him. Consequently, the excommunication can be dissolved only by ten people.

Rav Aḥa said to Rav Ashi: If he was excommunicated and the excommunication was dissolved for him in his dream, what is the halakha? Rav Ashi said to him: Just as it is impossible for the grain to grow without straw,