001 - הִלְכוֹת סוֹטָה פֵּרֶק א

Laws of Sotah, Chapter 1

The Laws of Sotah include three mitzvos: one positive commandment and two negative commandments. They are as follows: (1) To deal with a sotah according to the law of jealousy set out in the Torah. (2) Not to put oil on her offering. (3) Not to put frankincense on it.

1. The warning of jealousy (kinui) mentioned in the Torah, "וְקִנֵּא אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ" ("And he warns his wife in jealousy," Bamidbar 5:14; Bamidbar 5:30), means that he says to her before witnesses, "Do not seclude yourself with so-and-so." This applies even if the man was her father, her brother, a gentile, a slave, or a shachuf, a man who cannot have an erection and cannot father children.

2. The seclusion (setirah) mentioned in the Torah, "וְנִסְתְּרָה" ("And she was secluded," Bamidbar 5:13), means that she secluded herself, before two witnesses, with the man about whom he told her, "Do not seclude yourself with him." If she remained with him long enough for defilement, which is the time it takes to roast an egg and swallow it, she is forbidden to her husband until she drinks the bitter waters and the matter is clarified. At a time when there are no waters of the sotah, she is forbidden to him forever, and she leaves without a kesubah.

3. If he warned her concerning two men together, saying to her, "Do not seclude yourself with so-and-so and so-and-so," and she secluded herself with both of them together and remained long enough for defilement, she is forbidden until she drinks, even if they were her two brothers, or her father and her brother.

4. If he said to her before two witnesses, "Do not speak with so-and-so," this is not a warning of jealousy. Even if she secluded herself with him before witnesses and remained long enough for defilement, she is not forbidden to him, and she does not drink on account of this warning.

5. Likewise, if he said to her, "Do not seclude yourself with him," and they saw her speaking with him, this is not seclusion; she is not forbidden, and she does not drink. Likewise, if no warning preceded, and two witnesses came and testified that she secluded herself with this man and remained long enough for defilement, she is not forbidden to her husband, and she does not drink.

6. If he said to her, "Do not seclude yourself with so-and-so," and he was a minor less than nine years and one day old, or he said to her, "Do not seclude yourself with this animal," this is not a warning of jealousy. For it is stated: "וְשָׁכַב אִישׁ אֹתָהּ" ("And a man lay with her," Bamidbar 5:13), excluding a minor and an animal, which do not make her forbidden to him.

7. A husband who waived his warning before she secluded herself, his warning is waived, and it is as if he never warned her. But after she has secluded herself, he cannot waive it. If he divorced her, it is as if he waived it; and if he took her back, he must give another warning.

8. If he warned her before two witnesses, and he himself saw that she secluded herself with the man concerning whom he had warned her, and she remained long enough for defilement, she is forbidden to him, and he must send her away and give her the kesubah; for he cannot make her drink on his own word. Likewise, if after the warning he heard people gossiping about her, to the point that he heard the women who spin by moonlight discussing her, saying that she was unfaithful with the man concerning whom he had warned her, he is forbidden to keep her, and he must send her away and give her the kesubah.

9. If one witness came and testified to him that she secluded herself with that man after the warning and remained long enough for defilement: if the witness is trustworthy to him and he relies on him, he sends her away and gives her the kesubah; and if not, his wife is permitted to him.

10. The following are women for whom the beis din gives the warning of jealousy: a woman whose husband became a deaf-mute, or became mentally incompetent, or was in another country, or was confined in prison. The purpose is not to make her drink, but to disqualify her from her kesubah.

11. How so? If the beis din heard that people were gossiping about her, they summon her and say to her, "Do not seclude yourself with so-and-so." If witnesses afterwards came and testified that she secluded herself with him and remained long enough for defilement, the beis din forbids her to her husband forever and tears up her kesubah. When her husband comes back, or recovers, or leaves prison, he gives her a get; and he cannot make her drink, since he did not warn her himself.

12. If she drank the bitter waters and was proven clean by them, and then he warned her again concerning the man on whose account he had made her drink, and she secluded herself with him, he does not make her drink a second time on his account; rather, she is forbidden to him forever and leaves without a kesubah. But if he warned her concerning another man, and she secluded herself with the other man before witnesses, he makes her drink a second time, and even several times, provided that each time he makes her drink on account of a different man.

13. If he made her drink and then divorced her, and she married another man, and the second husband warned her concerning the man on whose account the first husband had made her drink, and she secluded herself with him before witnesses, the second husband makes her drink on his account, since he is a second husband. Even if she married a hundred men one after the other, they make her drink on account of one man; and we do not say that she has certainly established a pattern with this man and is defiled, unless there is a witness.

14. A woman whose husband warned her, and after the warning she secluded herself with that man before witnesses, and she is about to drink, and one witness came and testified that she had relations in his presence with the man concerning whom he had warned her: she is forbidden to her husband forever, she does not drink, and she leaves without a kesubah. This applies even if this witness to the defilement was one of the witnesses to the seclusion. For it is stated: "וְעֵד אֵין בָּהּ" ("And there is no witness against her," Bamidbar 5:13), and here there is a witness.

15. Even a woman, a slave, a maidservant, one who is disqualified from testimony because of a transgression by the words of the Sofrim, and even a relative are believed in the testimony of a sotah, to testify that she was unfaithful. She is then forbidden to her husband forever, does not drink, and leaves without a kesubah. Since the warning and the seclusion were established beforehand by valid witnesses, and the Torah believed one witness concerning defilement, all of these are valid for testimony concerning defilement. Even the five women who hate one another may testify one about the other that she was defiled, and each is believed concerning the other to forbid her to her husband and so that she does not drink; but not to disqualify her from her kesubah. Rather, she takes her kesubah and leaves.

16. If one valid witness came and said, "She was defiled," she does not drink, as we have explained. If another came and contradicted him, saying, "She was not defiled," he is not heeded. For one witness concerning the defilement of a sotah is like two, and the words of the latter do not override the words of the first, who is like two.

17. If both came together, one saying, "She was defiled," and the other saying, "She was not defiled"; or one said, "She was defiled," and two came after him and said, "She was not defiled," she drinks.

18. If one valid witness and many women, or many disqualified witnesses, came together, the witness saying, "She was defiled," and the women or the disqualified witnesses saying, "She was not defiled," she drinks. For one witness and many disqualified witnesses are like half against half.

19. If all of them were disqualified witnesses, we follow the majority. How so? If two women say, "She was defiled," and three say, "She was not defiled," she drinks. If three say, "She was not defiled," and four say, "She was defiled," she does not drink. If they were half against half, she drinks.

20. Any sotah who does not drink because of witnesses to her defilement is forbidden to her husband forever and leaves without a kesubah. For she became forbidden through the warning and the seclusion, and the drinking that would permit her has been withheld, since there is a witness against her, as we have explained.