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Week 80 - Friday - 8 June 2001

SOTAH: CHAPTER 6: MISHNAH 1

One who warned his wife and she secluded herself, even if he heard from a flying bird, he must divorce her and give her the ketubah. So R. Eliezer. R. Yehoshua says, Until the women that spin thread by moonlight talk about her.

Kehati

This chapter resumes the discussions concerning evidence against a sotah. According to Tosafot (Sot. 31a), this chapter naturally associates with Chapter One, following the statement, "these may not eat terumah" (Mishnah 1:3 above). As noted at the beginning of this Tractate, R. Eliezer and R. Yehoshua disagree concerning evidence of seclusion, i.e., a woman's private meeting that may involve adultery, after her husband's due warning regarding the man in question. R. Eliezer says, "He warns her in the presence of two witnesses, and makes her drink on the testimony of one witness or on his own testimony," i.e., seclusion does not require proper testimony. R. Yehoshua says, "He must warn her in the presence of two witnesses, "and make her drink based on the testimony of two witnesses," i.e., seclusion likewise requires two witnesses.

One who warned his wife - saying to her in the presence of two witnesses: "Do not seclude yourself with so-and-so," and she secluded herself - after having been warned, and there are no witnesses to her seclusion, even if he heard from a flying bird - an idiomatic phrase meaning that even if the husband heard from an unreliable source, e.g., a male or female servant, that his wife had secluded herself, he must divorce her and give her the ketubah - i.e., she is thereby rendered a sotah and is forbidden to her husband. Should he refuse to make her drink, he must divorce her, but she does not forfeit her ketubah, as learned above (mishnah 4:2): "If her husband said: 'I will not make her drink,' she takes her ketubah and does not drink."

So R. Eliezer - who holds that after the warning before witnesses, there is no need for witnesses of seclusion, and even one who is unfit as a witness (metaphorically likened to a flying bird) is believed concerning her seclusion and rendering her a sotah (Rashi). According to others, our mishnah does not mean that he heard about her seclusion from someone, even from an unqualified witness, and that in R. Eliezer's view he may make her drink on that testimony. Rather, it means he heard a rumor that she had secluded herself (Rashbam, cited in Tosefot Shantz), or he himself had inferred this, by divination from the twitter of the birds (Hameiri, citing "certain commentators"). Accordingly, even in R. Eliezer's view he cannot make her drink in such a case; nevertheless she is forbidden to him and he must divorce her and give her the ketubah.

R. Yehoshua says - seclusion likewise requires valid testimony, i.e., the husband may not make his wife drink until two witnesses testify that she had secluded herself. If there are no such witnesses and he merely heard "from a flying bird" that she had done so, she is not forbidden to her husband - until the women that spin thread by moonlight talk about her - unless the women who gather to spin by moonlight converse about her; once her loose behavior becomes the subject of discussion, it is improper for her husband to keep her. Since her misconduct is publicly acknowledged, the water would not test her, as taught by a baraita in the Gemara (Sot. 6b): "And she is undefiled" - not so if those who spin by moonlight converse about her; hence, he must divorce her and give her the ketubah.

Some explain that our mishnah does not refer to seclusion, but rather to defilement; i.e., if after warning her she then secluded herself (before qualified witnesses), and he heard that "she had been defiled," even from a flying bird, R. Eliezer holds that he does not make her drink, "but must divorce her and give her the ketubah." R. Yehoshua says, "Until the women that spin thread by moonlight talk about her" - as explained above (Rabbeinu Hananel; Hameiri, citing earlier authorities).

SOTAH: CHAPTER 6: MISHNAH 2

If one witness said: "I saw her become defiled" - she did not drink. Moreover, even a bondman, even a bondwoman are believed, also to disqualify her from her ketubah. Her mother-in-law, her mother-in-law's daughter, her co-wife, her yevamah, and her husband's daughter - are all believed; not to disqualify her from her ketubah, but only that she should not drink.

Kehati

This mishnah deals with a sotah against whom there were valid witnesses of warning and seclusion. It teaches the agreed view that one witness suffices to establish that she had been defiled during such seclusion, since this is augmented by circumstantial evidence.

If one witness said: "I saw her become defiled" - I saw this sotah commit adultery with so-and-so when she was secluded with him after her husband had warned her about him. she did not drink - the water; since there were witnesses of her warning and seclusion, even one witness suffices concerning her defilement (the reason is explained in the following mishnah), and she is divorced and forfeits her ketubah (see above, mishnah 4:2).

Moreover, even a bondman, even a bondwoman - who are generally not fit to testify - are believed, also to disqualify her from her ketubah - i.e., they can establish a sotah's defilement, so that she does not drink, leaves her husband, and forfeits her ketubah. Her mother-in-law, her mother-in-law's daughter - her husband's sister - her co-wife - another woman married to her husband - her yevamah and her husband's daughter - by another wife; these five women are presumed to resent her; hence it is taught (Yev. 15:4) that although a woman may marry on the testimony of a single witness of her husband's death including a woman's testimony, nevertheless, these five women cannot testify to her husband's death; yet in the case of a sotah - are all believed - even these five women can establish her misconduct once her husband has warned her and she secluded herself, since the Torah accepted any testimony in such a case (see following mishnah); not to disqualify her from her ketubah - since they resent her but only that she should not drink - they are believed to cancel the water-test, but she is forbidden to her husband, who divorces her and gives her the ketubah.

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