💾 Archived View for scholasticdiversity.us.to › scriptures › jewish › t › Mishnah%20Sotah%202 captured on 2024-05-10 at 12:13:05. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2 ‎[1] The husband of the *sota* **would bring** his wife’s **meal-offering** to the priest **in an Egyptian wicker basket** made of palm branches, **and he would place** the meal-offering **in her hands** for her to hold throughout the ritual **in order to fatigue her.** This might lead her to confess her guilt and not drink the water of a *sota* unnecessarily. The mishna lists differences between this meal-offering and other meal-offerings. Generally, **all meal-offerings,** from **their beginnings,** i.e., the moment they are consecrated, **and** until **their ends,** i.e., the moment they are sacrificed, must be **in a service vessel. But** in the case of **this one, its beginning is in a wicker basket and** only at **its end,** immediately before it is offered, is it placed **in a service vessel.** **All** other **meal-offerings require oil and frankincense, and this one requires neither oil nor frankincense.** Furthermore, **all** other **meal-offerings are brought from wheat, and this one is brought from barley. Although** in fact **the *omer* meal-offering** is also **brought from barley,** it is still different in that **it was brought as groats,** i.e., high-quality meal. The meal-offering of the *sota*, however, **is brought as** unsifted barley **flour. Rabban Gamliel says:** This hints that **just as her actions** of seclusion with another man **were the actions of an animal, so too her offering is animal food,** i.e., barley and not wheat.
‎[2] The priest **would bring an earthenware** drinking **vessel [*peyalei*] and he would pour into it half a *log* of water from the basin** in the Temple. **Rabbi Yehuda says:** The priest would pour only **a quarter**-*log* of water. **Just as** Rabbi Yehuda **minimizes the writing,** as he requires that less be written on the scroll of the *sota* than do the Rabbis, **so too he minimizes the** amount of **water** to be taken from the basin for the erasing of the text. The priest **would enter the Sanctuary and turn to his right. And there was a place there,** on the Sanctuary floor, with an area of **a cubit by a cubit, and a marble tablet [*tavla*]** was there, **and a ring was fastened to** the tablet to assist the priest **when** he **would raise** it. **And** the priest **would take** loose **dust from underneath it and place** the dust into the vessel with the water, **so that** the dust **would be visible upon the water, as it is stated:** “And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; **and of the dust that is on the floor of the Tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water”** (Numbers 5:17).
‎[3] **When** the priest **comes to write the scroll** of the *sota* that is to be placed in the water, **from what place** in the Torah passage concerning the *sota* (Numbers 5:11–31) **does he write?** He starts **from** the verse: **“If no man has lain** with you, and if you have not gone astray to defilement while under your husband, you shall be free from this water of bitterness that causes the curse” (Numbers 5:19); and continues: **“But if you have gone astray while under your husband,** and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband” (Numbers 5:20). **And** then **he does not write** the beginning of the following verse, which states: **“Then the priest shall cause the woman to swear** with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman” (Numbers 5:21), **but he does write** the oath recorded in the continuation of the verse: **“The Lord shall make you a curse and an oath** among your people when the Lord will cause your thigh to fall away, and your belly to swell. **And this water that causes the curse shall go into your bowels, and cause your belly to swell, and your thigh to fall away”** (Numbers 5:21–22); **but he does not write** the conclusion of the verse: **“And the woman shall say: Amen, amen”** (Numbers 5:22). **Rabbi Yosei says: He does not interrupt** the verses but rather writes the entire passage without any omissions. **Rabbi Yehuda says: He writes nothing other** than curses recorded in the final verses cited above: **“The Lord shall make you a curse and an oath** among your people when the Lord will cause your thigh to fall away, and your belly to swell. **And this water that causes the curse shall go into your bowels,** and cause your belly to swell, and your thigh to fall away.” **And he does not write** the conclusion of the verse: **“And the woman shall say: Amen, amen.”**
‎[4] The priest **does not write** the scroll of the *sota* **upon** a wooden **tablet, and not upon paper** made from grass, **and not upon** ***diftera*,** a hide that is only partially processed, as it is salted and treated with flour but not gallnuts; **rather,** it must be written only **on a scroll** of parchment, **as** it **is stated:** “And the priest shall write these curses **in a scroll”** (Numbers 5:23). **And** the scribe **may not write with gum [*komos*], and not with iron sulfate [*kankantom*], nor with any substance that makes a mark** and cannot be completely erased, **but** only **with ink** made from soot, **as it is stated** in the continuation of the same verse: **“And he shall blot** them out into the water of bitterness” (Numbers 5:23). This indicates that the scroll must be written with **a writing that can be erased** in water.
‎[5] **With regard to what does she say: “Amen, amen”** (Number 5:22), twice, as recorded in the verse? The mishna explains that it includes of the following: **Amen on the curse,** as she accepts the curse upon herself if she is guilty, and **amen on the oath,** as she declares that she is not defiled. She states: **Amen** if I committed adultery **with this man** about whom I was warned, **amen** if I committed adultery **with another man. Amen that I did not stray** when I was **betrothed nor** after I was **married,** **nor as a widow waiting for my *yavam*** to perform levirate marriage, since a woman at that stage is prohibited from engaging in sexual intercourse with any men, **nor** when **married** through levirate marriage to the *yavam*; **amen that I did not become defiled, and if I did become defiled, may** all these curses **come upon me.** **Rabbi Meir says** that “amen, amen” means: **Amen that I did not become defiled** in the past, **amen that I will not become defiled** in the future.
‎[6] **All agree that he may stipulate with her** through this oath **neither with regard to** what she did **before becoming be-trothed** to him, **nor with regard to** what she will do **after she becomes divorced** from him. Similarly, if a husband divorced his wife, and while divorced **she secluded herself** with another man **and became defiled, and afterward** her husband **took her back** and remarried her, and he then warned her about a specific man, and she secluded herself, and she is now about to drink the water of the *sota*, **he cannot stipulate with her** that she take an oath that she did not become defiled during the period in which she was divorced. This is because her husband would become forbidden to her only if she had married another man after being divorced, not if she merely committed an act of promiscuity. **This is the principle:** In **every** case **where** if **she would engage in sexual intercourse** with someone else **she would not become forbidden to** her husband due to this act, **he may not stipulate with her** that her oath include that act. The oath can include only cases in which she would be rendered forbidden to him.
Version: William Davidson Edition - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-noe-edition-koren-talmud-bavli-1
License: CC-BY-NC