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Week 78 - Thursday - 24 May 2001

SOTAH: CHAPTER 1: MISHNAH 4

They would bring her up to the high court in Jerusalem and admonish her as they admonished witnesses in capital cases, and say to her: My daughter, wine causes much, levity causes much, childishness causes much, bad neighbors cause much; act for the sake of His great Name, written in holiness, that it not be erased by the water. And they relate to her matters, which neither she nor all her father's family deserve to hear.

Kehati

After learning in the previous mishnah, "How is he to act toward her? He takes her to the court in that locality," this mishnah and the following (4-7) teach how they used to deal with a sotah, after it was ascertained in the local court that her husband had duly warned her and she secluded herself, and that he must make her drink the curse-causing waters.

They would bring her - the sotah, from the local court - up to the High Court in Jerusalem - i.e., the Court of seventy-one judges, which convened in the Chamber of Hewn Stones in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Gemara explains that we learn this from analogous terminology in the case of a rebellious sage. Since regarding a sotah it is said (Num. 5:30): "then shall he stand his wife before the Lord, and the priest shall perform this entire law upon her" and concerning the rebellious sage it is said (Deut. 17:10-11): "And you shall act according to what they shall tell unto you from the place which the Lord shall choose ... according to the law which they shall teach you;" just as in the case of a rebellious sage the phrase "according to the law which they shall teach you" refers to the High Court, here, too, in the case of a sotah, her law is decided in the High Court alone; and admonish her - in the Court to admit her defilement, whereupon she will not have to drink the water, in the manner in which they admonish witnesses in capital cases - to refrain from false testimony, and ensure that no innocent man be killed on the basis of their testimony (San. 4:5).

Similarly, they admonish the sotah that if she has been defiled she should rather admit it than expose herself to danger, and say to her: My daughter - do not be ashamed to admit your misconduct - for - drinking - wine causes much - sin, levity causes much - frivolousness and foolishness lead to sin, childishness causes much - immaturity fosters immorality, bad neighbors cause much - their influence entices one to stray from the virtuous course; and you, too, no doubt succumbed to one of these factors; therefore, act for the sake of His great Name - of the Holy One, blessed be He, written in holiness, that it not be erased by the water - confess your guilt and dispense with the need to prepare for you the curse-causing waters which entails erasing the Divine name written on the scroll, as it is stated (Num. 5:23): "And the priest shall write these curses in a scroll, and he shall dissolve it into the bitter water."

: And they related to her matters which neither she nor all her father's family - who no doubt came with her - deserve to hear. The Gemara explains that they relate to her the Torah's description of the deeds of our ancestors who admitted their sins without shame, e.g., the story of Yehudah and Tamar, when Yehudah confessed that "she is more righteous than I," and kindred accounts.

SOTAH: CHAPTER 1: MISHNAH 5

If she said: I am defiled, she gives a quittance for her ketubah, and departs. But if she said: I am pure, they take her up to the Eastern Gate, which faces the entrance of the Nicanor Gate, where they gave women suspected of adultery to drink, and purify women after childbirth, and purify those who recovered from tzara'at. And a priest grips her garments - if they are torn, they are torn, if they are tattered, they are tattered - so that he uncovers her bosom, and loosens her hair. R. Yehudah says, If her bosom was comely, he did not uncover it; and if her hair was comely, he did not loosen it.

Kehati

If she said: - I am defiled - if the sotah admitted that she committed adultery she gives a quittance for her ketubah - i.e., she forfeits the money stipulated in her ketubah and writes her husband a voucher for it, and departs - from her husband with a writ of divorce, since witnesses did not warn her at the time of her act, she is not liable to the death penalty. According to the Gemara, our mishnah refers to a place where it was not customary to write a ketubah, hence she writes a voucher for her husband as proof that she has no claim against him for her ketubah; but where they write a ketubah, she tears up her ketubah and does not write a voucher.

But if she said: I am pure - even after being admonished by the court she maintained her claim and denied the accusation - they take her up -according to the Gemara they would lead her down from the Temple Mount and then up again to tire her, that she might confess before the scroll is erased, until finally they would take her up to the Eastern Gate which faces the entrance of the Nicanor Gate - there were two eastern gates in the Temple: 1) the outer one at the entrance to the Temple Mount, i.e., the Lower Gate; 2) the inner one, at the entrance between the Women's Court and the Men's Court, i.e., the Upper Gate or the Nicanor Gate, recalling the person who installed in that gate bronze doors which he imported from Alexandria (see Yoma 3:6).

According to Rashi, they first led the sotah down from the Chamber of Hewn Stones to the Lower Gates, and from there, up to the entrance of the Nicanor, i.e., Upper Gate. According to others the mishnah means that they led her up to the Eastern Gate, i.e., the Nicanor Gate (Tosefot Yom Tov citing Kaftor vaFerah) where they gave women suspected of adultery to drink - as described in the relevant passage (Num. 5:18): "And the priest shall stand the woman before the Lord," i.e., the gate through which entered and departed all who came to the Temple courtyard (Rashi). The space of the Nicanor Gate passage was not accorded the sanctity of the Temple Court, to enable those lacking atonement and were forbidden to visit the Temple to enter there, to bring their sacrifices and be purified, and accordingly they used to purify men and women there who had a seminal flux (Gemara) -

and purify women after childbirth, and purify those who recovered from tzara'at - i.e., men and women who had a discharge, women after childbirth and those who recovered from tzara'at would stand there while the priest offered their sacrifice and purified them, since a person's sacrifice may not be offered without his attendance. Regarding those recovering from tzara'at an additional reason is stated (Lev. 14:11): "And the priest that purifies him shall stand the man being cleansed, and those things, before the Lord, at the door of the Tent of Meeting;" unable to enter the Temple Court before purification, they must stand in the Nicanor Gate entrance and this is where they would finally bring the sotah.

And a priest grips her garments - at the neckline, if they are torn they are torn - he need not fear if they are tattered - at the seams; others explain that it means they were torn in several places - they are tattered and he need not worry since this is intended to emphasize her disgrace and induce her to confess (Hameiri), so that he uncovers her bosom and loosens her hair - i.e., her braids, in order to disgrace her (Rambam). R. Yehudah says, If her bosom was comely, he did not uncover it; and if her hair was comely, he did not loosen it - according to the Gemara, this was because she might prove to be innocent and this could provoke youthful priests to molest her afterwards; Rashi associates the Gemara's reference to "young priests" ~ (pirhei kehunah) with their frequent presence at the Temple courtyard, which exceeded that of others.

However, the Sages hold that it is obligatory to humble her, even if she did not commit adultery, in accordance with the verse (Ezek. 23:48), "that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness," i.e., to avoid suspicious relations and conduct themselves modestly (see the next mishnah). According to Hameiri, the halakhah follows the Sages, since "a procedure designed to disgrace is unlikely to arouse sensual desire."

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