003 - הִלְכוֹת סוֹטָה פֵּרֶק ג

Laws of Sotah, Chapter 3

1. What is the order of giving a sotah to drink? The husband comes to the court of his city and says to them: "I warned this wife of mine in jealousy, before so-and-so and so-and-so, not to seclude herself with so-and-so, and she secluded herself with him, and these are my witnesses. She says that she is pure, and I wish to have her drink so that the matter will be clarified." The court hears the testimony of the witnesses and assigns him two Torah scholars to watch him, lest he have relations with her before she drinks, for she is forbidden to him until she drinks. Then they send him to Yerushalayim, for only the Great Court of seventy elders, in the Mikdash, gives a sotah to drink.

2. When they arrive in Yerushalayim, the Great Court seats her among them and admonishes her, not in her husband's presence, and makes her very much afraid, so that she will not drink. They say to her: "My daughter, wine can do much, levity can do much, youthfulness can do much, bad neighbors can do much. Do not cause the great Name, written in holiness, to be erased on the water." And they say to her: "My daughter, many have gone before you and been swept away, and great and honored men were overcome by their inclination and stumbled." They tell her the story of Yehudah and Tamar his daughter-in-law, the story of Reuven and his father's concubine according to its plain meaning, and the story of Amnon and his sister, to make it easier for her to confess. If she says, "Yes, I was defiled," or "I will not drink," she leaves without a kesubah and goes her way.

3. If she holds to her word that she is pure, they bring her to the eastern gate of the Courtyard, which faces the Holy of Holies. They take her up from place to place and lead her around, to tire her until she is worn out—perhaps she will confess.

4. If she still holds to her word, they bring her opposite the Eastern Gate, on the outside, and stand her there. If she was dressed in white, she is dressed in black; and if black became her, she is dressed in garments that do not become her. All the silver and gold jewelry she is wearing is removed.

5. A large gathering of women is assembled around her, for all the women who are there are obligated to see her, as it says, "וְנִוַּסְּרוּ כָּל-הַנָּשִׁים . . ." ("That all the women may be taught . . . ," Yechezkel 23:48). Any man who wishes to come and see her may come and see. She stands among them without a shawl and without a kerchief, only in her garments and the cap on her head, as a woman is in her own home.

6. Her male and female servants are not allowed to remain there, because she knows them and feels at ease with them.

7. Afterwards the kohen administers the oath to her in a language she understands, and tells her in her own language that nothing brought this upon her except the warning and the seclusion: her husband warned her and she secluded herself. He says to her, in a language she understands, "אִם-לֹא שָׁכַב אִישׁ אֹתָךְ, וְאִם-לֹא שָׂטִית טֻמְאָה, תַּחַת אִישֵׁךְ--הִנָּקִי, מִמֵּי הַמָּרִים הַמְאָרְרִים הָאֵלֶּה. וְאַתְּ, כִּי שָׂטִית תַּחַת אִישֵׁךְ--וְכִי נִטְמֵאת; וַיִּתֵּן אִישׁ בָּךְ אֶת-שְׁכָבְתּוֹ, מִבַּלְעֲדֵי אִישֵׁךְ. . . . יִתֵּן ה' אוֹתָךְ לְאָלָה וְלִשְׁבֻעָה בְּתוֹךְ עַמֵּךְ--בְּתֵת ה' אֶת-יְרֵכֵךְ נֹפֶלֶת, וְאֶת-בִּטְנֵךְ צָבָה. וּבָאוּ הַמַּיִם הַמְאָרְרִים הָאֵלֶּה, בְּמֵעַיִךְ, לַצְבּוֹת בֶּטֶן, וְלַנְפִּל יָרֵךְ" ("If no man has lain with you, and if you have not strayed into defilement while under your husband, be free of this bitter water that brings the curse. But if you have strayed while under your husband, and if you have become defiled, and a man other than your husband has lain with you . . . may Hashem make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Hashem makes your thigh fall away and your belly swell. And this water that brings the curse shall enter your innards, to make the belly swell and the thigh fall away," Bamidbar 5:19-22). And she says "אָמֵן אָמֵן" ("Amen, amen," Bamidbar 5:22) in a language she understands. He also tells her that the belly is stricken first and the thigh last, so that no slander will be spread about the waters.

8. Afterwards he brings a scroll of parchment from a tahor animal, like that of a Sefer Torah, and writes on it in Lashon HaKodesh, with ink that has no kalkantos (vitriol) in it, for the sake of this woman, like a get. He writes all the words with which he made her swear, letter by letter and word by word. He writes the Name as it is written, and he does not write "amen, amen."

9. Afterwards he brings an earthenware vessel that has never been used for any work, and that does not look like a vessel worn out with age; if it was put back into the kiln until it became like new, it is valid. He puts into it half a log of water from the Kiyor (the Laver), measuring it with the half-log measure that was in the Mikdash, and enters the Heichal with it.

10. There was a place there, an amah by an amah, to the right of one who enters, with a marble tablet in it that had a ring fixed to it. He lifts the tablet, takes dust from the floor of the Mishkan, and puts it on the surface of the water, so that it can be seen on the surface of the water. He puts something bitter into it, such as wormwood and the like, as it says, "מֵי הַמָּרִים" ("the bitter water," Bamidbar 5:18, 23, 24). Then he erases the scroll into it, for her sake. He should erase it very thoroughly, until no visible trace remains on the scroll.

11. Afterwards another kohen, one of the kohanim of the Courtyard, comes to her, takes hold of her garments at the front and tears them until he uncovers her heart. He uncovers her hair and undoes the braids of her head, in order to disgrace her. He brings an Egyptian rope, to remind her of the deeds of Egypt that she committed; if they do not find an Egyptian rope, he brings a rope of any kind. He ties it above her breasts, so that her garments will not fall off and leave her uncovered, since they have been torn.

12. Afterwards he brings an issaron (a tenth of an eifah) of barley flour belonging to the husband and puts it in an Egyptian basket. The rope and the basket are paid for from the surplus funds of the Chamber (sheyarei halishkah). He places it on her hands, to tire her.

13. Afterwards he takes the meal-offering out of the basket and puts it into a sacred vessel. He puts neither oil nor frankincense on it. If he did, he receives lashes for the oil by itself and for the frankincense by itself, as it says, "לֹא-יִצֹק עָלָיו שֶׁמֶן, וְלֹא-יִתֵּן עָלָיו לְבֹנָה" ("He shall not pour oil upon it, nor put frankincense upon it," Bamidbar 5:15).

14. The whole time that he uncovers her head and places the issaron on her hands, the water should be in the vessel in the kohen's hand, and he should show her the water, as it says, "וּבְיַד הַכֹּהֵן יִהְיוּ, מֵי הַמָּרִים הַמְאָרְרִים" ("And in the hand of the kohen shall be the bitter water that brings the curse," Bamidbar 5:18).

15. Afterwards he gives her to drink. After she drinks, he takes the sacred vessel holding the meal-offering and places it on her hands, and the kohen places his hand beneath hers and waves it on the east side, like all other wavings: moving it forward and back, up and down. After he waves it, he brings the meal-offering to the southwest corner of the Altar, like other meal-offerings of an individual. He takes a handful (kometz) from it and burns the handful, and the rest is eaten by the kohanim.

16. If she is pure, she leaves and goes her way, and she is permitted to her husband. If she is defiled, her face immediately turns sallow, her eyes bulge, and she becomes covered with swollen veins. They say, "Take her out, take her out, lest she become a niddah, for women who are niddah make the Women's Courtyard tamei." They take her out of the Women's Courtyard, where she is standing. Her belly swells first, and afterwards her thigh falls away, and she dies.

17. At the very hour that she dies, the adulterer on whose account she was made to drink dies, wherever he is, and the same things that befell her befall him: "לַצְבּוֹת בֶּטֶן, וְלַנְפִּל יָרֵךְ" ("to make the belly swell and the thigh fall away," Bamidbar 5:22). All this applies when the husband himself has never sinned. But if he has had forbidden relations, the waters do not test his wife, as we have explained.

18. If he transgressed and gave his wife to drink, he adds rebellion to his sin. For he causes the Explicit Name to be erased in the water for nothing, and he brings slander on the waters of the sotah: his wife will tell other women that she was unfaithful and the waters did not test her, and she will not know that her husband's deeds were the cause.

19. Therefore, once adulterers became many and open about it in the time of the Second Beis HaMikdash, the Sanhedrin abolished the bitter waters, relying on what is written in the Prophets: "לֹא-אֶפְקוֹד עַל-בְּנוֹתֵיכֶם כִּי תִזְנֶינָה, וְעַל-כַּלּוֹתֵיכֶם כִּי תְנָאַפְנָה" ("I will not punish your daughters when they stray, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery," Hoshea 4:14).

20. When a sotah has the merit of Torah study—even though she is not commanded to study Torah—that merit holds her punishment in suspense, and she does not die immediately. Rather, she wastes away little by little, and severe illnesses come upon her until she dies after one, two or three years, according to her merit. She dies with a swollen belly and with her limbs falling away.

21. A sotah who drank the bitter waters and did not die at once is permitted to her husband, even if he is a kohen. Even if illnesses have begun to come upon her and her other limbs have become sick, since her belly has not swollen and her thigh has not begun to fall away, she is permitted. But once her belly has begun to swell and her thigh to fall away, she is certainly forbidden.

22. When a sotah drank and was pure, she grows stronger and her face shines. If she had an illness, it leaves her. She will conceive and give birth to a son. If she used to give birth with difficulty, she will give birth easily; if she used to give birth to daughters, she will give birth to sons.

23. If witnesses to her defilement came after she drank, she leaves without a kesubah and is forbidden to her husband, even though none of these things happened to her. For the waters test only a woman who has no witnesses who can make her unfaithfulness known. Furthermore, perhaps her husband is not free of sin, and that is why the waters did not test his wife. If, however, a single witness came and testified that she was defiled, she remains with her husband, since she has drunk.

24. When a woman was unfaithful under duress, or unwittingly, or when the man about whom she was warned had contact with her without intercourse (derech eivarim), the waters do not test her. As it says, "וְהִיא לֹא נִתְפָּשָׂה" ("and she was not seized," Bamidbar 5:13)—excluding a woman who was forced, for she was seized by force; "וַתִּמְעֹל מַעַל בְּאִישָׁהּ" ("and she committed a trespass against her husband," Bamidbar 5:27)—excluding one who acted unwittingly; "וְשָׁכַב אִישׁ אֹתָהּ, שִׁכְבַת-זֶרַע" ("and a man lay with her carnally," Bamidbar 5:13)—excluding one with whom a man had contact without intercourse.