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Week 79 - Monday - 28 May 2001

SOTAH: CHAPTER 2: MISHNAH 3

When he comes to write the scroll from what place does he write? From: "If no man has lain" etc. "But if you have strayed while under your husband" (Num. 5:19-20). But he does not write: "And the priest shall adjure the woman" (ibid. 21). He then writes "May the Lord make you for a curse and an oath..." (ibid.). "And these curse-causing waters shall enter your innards to make the belly swell and the thigh fall away" (ibid. 22) but he does not write "and the woman shall answer amen amen"(ibid.). R. Yose says, He did not omit. R. Yehudah says, He only writes "May the Lord make you for a curse and an oath" etc., "these curse-causing waters shall enter your innards" etc., but he does not write "and the woman shall answer amen amen."

Kehati

It is written, the priest shall write these curses in a book and he shall dissolve it in bitter waters" (Num. 5:23). This teaches us that the priest writes the words, which he had employed in adjuring the sotah on a scroll of parchment as explained in the next mishnah. The Tannaim disagree in the mishnah on the definitions of "these curses" that the priest writes on the scroll.

When he - the priest - comes to write the - Torah - scroll - whose inscription is to dissolve in water - from what place does he write - which of the verses in the sotah chapter does the priest write in the scroll? From: "if no man has lain" etc. He opens with the words that he conveyed to the sotah "if no man has lain with you and you have not strayed to defilement while under your husband, be exonerated from these bitter curse-causing waters" and continues: "But if you have strayed while under your husband" - "And if you have become defiled and a man has lain with you other than your husband". But he does not write, "And the priest shall adjure the woman" - "with the oath of the curse and the priest shall say to the woman" and he omits this verse which merely refers to the priest's duty to admonish the sotah;

He then writes: "May the Lord make you for a curse and an oath among your people when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your belly swell and these curse-causing waters shall enter your innards to make the belly swell and the thigh to fall away" - at which point he concludes. But he does not write - the end of the verse "And the woman shall answer amen amen" - since this merely denotes the sotah's endorsement of the oath and the curse.

R. Yose says, He did not omit - but wrote "if no man has lain with you" until "amen amen," without exception as written in the Torah including the command "the priest shall adjure the woman" - and the endorsement "and the woman shall answer amen amen." Rabbi Yehudah says, He only writes - i.e., all he wrote in the sotah scroll was "May the Lord make you for a curse and an oath - among your people when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your belly swell" and these curse-causing waters shall enter your innards - "to make the belly swell and the thigh fall away", but he does not write "and the woman shall answer amen amen" - because it says "and he should write these curses" which R. Yehudah holds to exclude any additional text from the scroll.

However, the First Tanna holds that "curses" includes the full text of the priest's admonishment of the sotah and R. Yose interprets "the curses" as including the priest's duty and the sotah's endorsement (Gemara). The halakhah follows the First Tanna.

SOTAH: CHAPTER 2: MISHNAH 4

He does not write either on a tablet or on a papyrus or on a diftera, but only on a scroll, as it says "in a book" (Num. 5:23). He may not write either with komos or with kankantum or with anything that leaves a mark, only with ink as it says "and he shall dissolve it" (ibid) - writing that can be expunged.

Kehati

The mishnah continues with the laws of the sotah scroll and specifies on what object and with what material the priest writes the scroll.

He - the priest - does not write - the sotah scroll - on a tablet - of wood or on a papyrus - a skin-like sheet made of grass (Rashi) or worn out cloth (Hameiri) or on a diftera - inadequately processed parchment - but only on a scroll - i.e., duly processed parchment fit for writing a Torah scroll - as it says "in a book" - "the priest shall write these curses in a book" which implies parchment that can be rolled. He may not write - the scroll - either with komos - a gum-like sap of a tree - or with kankantum - a dye made of water treated with a copper substance (vitriol) or with anything that leaves a mark i.e., is absorbed by the parchment and cannot be erased - only - he must write - with ink - prepared from the charcoal of vines and the smoke of burning oil (Rambam) which can be erased - as it says "and he shall dissolve it" - "in the bitter waters" which implies writing that can be expunged - in water. Hence the priest must not write the sotah scroll with indelible substances.

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