OpenGemara > Gemara > Sotah

ת"ר

The Rabbis taught

in a Braisa

 
The verses talk about the   Sotah 

drinking her water three times: 
 
1. "He makes the woman drink the bitter water that causes the curse..." 
 
Then the verse talks about the   Mincha 

procedure, then repeats again: 
 
2. "Last, he shall make the woman drink the water." 
 
And 
 
3. "He makes her drink the water..." 
 
The   Braisa 

discusses the reason for the repetition:

והשקה מה ת"ל

What does the extra verse

"and he shall make her drink"

teach?

והלא כבר נאמר והשקה

Doesn't the verse already said that

"he shall make her drink"?

שאם נמחקה מגילה ואומרת איני שותה מערערין אותה ומשקין אותה בעל כרחה דברי רבי עקיבא

Rabbi Akiva

said that it teaches that once

the scroll is erased,

even if the Sotah refuses to

drink,

the court

forces her to drink.

 
As the   Gemara 

says above

.

ר"ש אומר ואחר ישקה מה ת"ל והלא כבר נאמר והשקה

Rabbi Shimon

said that a

third

verse repeats

"and he shall make her

drink

אלא לאחר כל מעשים כולן האמורין למעלה

To teach that the Sotah would drink

after all the above

preparatory procedures were carried out

מגיד ג' דברים מעכבין בה

And he holds that

three things invalidate

the Sotah's drinking

עד שלא קרב הקומץ ועד שלא נמחקה מגילה ועד שלא תקבל עליה שבועה

1. The

Kometz must be offered,

The scroll must be erased,

3. The Sotah

must accept upon herself the oath.

 
The   Gemara 

will now discuss these three conditions:

עד שלא קרב הקומץ

"Before the Kometz was offered"

ר"ש לטעמיה

Rabbi Shimon follows his own reasoning,

דאמר מקריב את מנחתה ואח"כ משקה

For Rabbi Shimon says that the Kohen offers the Mincha

before

the Sotah

drinks.

 
In contrast to the opinion of the Sages

.

עד שלא נמחקה מגילה

"Before the scroll was erased"

אלא מאי משקה לה

If the scroll wasn't erased,

what is

the Sotah drinking

 
The   Gemara 

answers:

אמר רב אשי

Rav Ashi said:

לא נצרכה לשרישומו ניכר

The Sotah may not drink her mixture even if only

an imprint

of the writing remains

עד שלא תקבל עליה שבועה

"If

the Sotah drank her mixture before she

accepted upon herself the oath",

מישתא הוא דלא שתיא הא מיכתב כתבי לה

This implies that the Sotah may not

drink

the bitter waters before she accepts her oath

, but the

scroll

may be written.

והאמר רבא מגילת סוטה שכתבה קודם שתקבל עליה שבועה לא עשה ולא כלום

But didn't Rava say that

if the Sotah's scroll

was written before the acceptance of the oath,

the scroll is invalid

כדי נסבה

This text is imprecise, and one may not even write the scroll before she accepted her oath

במאי קמיפלגי

Regarding what are

the Sages

and Rabbi Shimon arguing?

תלתא קראי כתיבי

There are three

times the

verse

says "And he will make her drink:"

והשקה קמא

The first

verse says

"He will make her drink",

ואחר ישקה

The second verse says

"And after that he will make her drink",

והשקה בתרא

The third verse says

"He will make her drink".

רבנן סברי והשקה קמא לגופו שמשקה ואח"כ מקריב את מנחתה

The Sages

expound

the first

verse which says

"he will make her drink"

to teaches that the Sotah drinks the bitter waters before

the Mincha offered,

ואחר ישקה מיבעי ליה לשרישומו ניכר

"And afterwards he will make her drink"

teaches that the Sotah may not drink the bitter waters while the writing's

imprint is

still

visible

on the scroll.

והשקה בתרא שאם נמחקה מגילה ואומרת איני שותה מערערין אותה ומשקה אותה בעל כרחה

And the last "he will make her drink"

teaches that, once the scroll is erased, the court

forces a recalcitrant Sotah to drink.

Opinion	"He will make her drink"	"And after that he will make her drink"	"He will make her drink"
The Sages	The Sotah drinks the bitter waters before the Mincha offered.	The Sotah may not drink the bitter waters while the writing's imprint is still visible.	The court forces a recalcitrant Sotah to drink.

ור"ש סבר ואחר ישקה לגופו שמקריב את מנחתה ואח"כ משקה

And Rabbi Shimon

expounds the verse

"and afterwards he will make her drink" to teach that the Mincha is offered before the Sotah drinks,

והשקה קמא שאם השקה ואח"כ הקריב את מנחתה כשרה

The first

verse saying

"he will make her drink"

teaches that the Sotah procedure does not have to be redone if the Sotah

drank before the Mincha was offered,

והשקה בתרא שאם נמחקה מגילה ואמרה איני שותה מערערין אותה ומשקין אותה בעל כרחה

The latter "he will make her drink"

teaches that, once the scroll is erased, the court

forces a recalcitrant Sotah to drink.

Opinion	"He will make her drink"	"And after that he will make her drink"	"He will make her drink"
The Sages	The Sotah drinks the bitter waters before the Mincha offered.	The Sotah may not drink the bitter waters while the writing's imprint is still visible.	The court forces a recalcitrant Sotah to drink.
Rabbi Shimon	The Sotah procedure does not have to be redone if the Sotah drank before the Mincha was offered.	The Mincha is offered before the Sotah drinks.	The court forces a recalcitrant Sotah to drink.

ורבנן בדיעבד לא פתח קרא

The Sages,

however, do not believe that the

verse would

not begin with

teach

the Halacha of what to do

after the fact.

 
According to Rabbi Shimon, the very first verse teaches what to do if the   Kohen 

messed up and made the   Sotah 

drink before offering her   Mincha. 

The Sages find that untenable. 
 
However, the   Gemara 

asks a question:

וסבר ר"ע משקין אותה בעל כרחה

But does Rabbi Akiva

hold

that

the court would

force

a Sotah to

drink against her will?

והתניא רבי יהודה אומר כלבוס של ברזל מטילין לתוך פיה שאם נמחקה מגילה ואמרה איני שותה מערערין אותה ומשקין אותה בע"כ

But didn't

a Braisa say

that

while

Rabbi Yehuda holds

that if a Sotah refuses to drink the bitter waters

after the scroll was erased

, the court

would

forcefully open

her mouth

and force her to drink them, while

אמר רבי עקיבא כלום אנו צריכין אלא לבודקה והלא בדוקה ועומדת

Rabbi Akiva

argued, saying that the Sotah drinks the bitter waters

to check

her immorality. By admitting her guilt,

she's "checked"

and there's no point in her drinking.

 
In the above   Braisa, 

Rabbi Akiva holds that the court doesn't force the   Sotah 

to drink her bitter waters, while the other
  Braisa 

says that the court does? 
 
The   Gemara 

answers:

אלא עד שלא קרב הקומץ יכולה לחזור בה משקרב הקומץ אינה יכולה לחזור בה

Rather,

Rabbi Akiva holds that

a Sotah can retract as long as the Kometz wasn't offered, but once the Kometz was offered she can no longer retract

(and we'll force her to drink.)

 
The   Gemara 

will now ask the obvious question:

וליטעמיך תיקשי לך היא גופה משקרב הקומץ אינה יכולה לחזור בה והלא בדוקה ועומדת

This answer doesn't make sense. For even if she admits her guilt

after the Kometz was offered,

she's still presumed guilty and

"checked"?

 
Rather, the   Gemara 

answers...

לא קשיא

There

is no contradiction:

הא דקהדרא בה מחמת רתיתא

When she retracted due to fear

we force her to drink, since she never truly admitted guilt,

 
Her panicked admission of guilt right before the test is a sign that she's scared and not she's not really admitting her guilt.

והא דקהדרא בה מחמת בריותא

While if

she retracted calmly

we don't force her to drink, since her calm demeanor is a sign that she knew her guilt and was never planning to drink.

והכי קאמר

And this is what

Rabbi Akiva

's saying:

כל מחמת בריותא כלל כלל לא שתיא

A Sotah who

retracted calmly doesn't drink,

whether she retracted before the Kometz's offering or after.

מחמת רתיתא

If, on the other hand, she retracted

in fear,

עד שלא קרב הקומץ דאכתי לא אמחוק מגילה

If her retraction was

before the Kometz was offered and the scroll was erased,

אי נמי אמחוק מגילה דשלא כדין עביד כהנים דמחקי

she retracted after the Kometz but before

the scroll was erased (The Kohanim didn't act properly by erasing

the scroll before offering the Kometz

מצי הדרא בה

She can retract.

משקרב הקומץ דבדין עביד כהנים דמחקי לא מצי הדרא בה

Once the Kohanim brought the Kometz (The Kohanim behaved correctly

in erasing the scroll after the Kometz

the Sotah

can no longer retract.