Annulment of vows

Dear Rabbi! I have two very urgent questions: After my father of blessed memory passed away, I took a vow not to eat meat. But now I need meat in my diet because of the state of my health. Besides that, I’m now taking medications and I haven’t recovered from the Coronavirus that I had six months ago. I took a vow that I won’t exchange certain things that I received as gifts (summer baseball caps). But I have absolutely no need for them. I’d like to annul that vow, so I’d be able to return them to the store in exchange for something more useful.    

1. You can annul the vow not to eat meat, since now there are new circumstances that did not exist at the time that you took the vow.
2. As far as the vow not to exchange the items of clothing, it’s not clear to me what new circumstances appeared since you took the vow that would make it possible for you to annul it. You have to find a Torah sage who is familiar with the laws of vows and ask him a more detailed question.

In order to annul his vows, the one who took them has to approach three people, one of whom is a Torah sage familiar with the laws of vows, and to describe his vows to them. Then they can annul them. It is not possible to annul vows through an application or through e-mail. What you should do is go to a qualified rabbi who answers halachic questions in your area, or, alternatively, find a rabbi who is an expert on the annulment of vows and make an appointment with him. The rabbi will be able to hear you out and to invite two other Jews to join him to annul your vows. (The only one who has to hear all the details of your vow is the rabbi.)

In general, one should refrain from taking vows and oaths. If you want to accept something upon yourself to fulfill, you should always say “bli neder”, “without taking a vow”. And in case you did take a vow, you should seek to annul it as quickly as possible.

Tractate Nedorim 22a.