<HTML>As to the current discussion about teaching Sotah, I would like to make a
couple of points.
A: There is a new fascinating book out called "Interpretive Revolution in
the Making" By Moshe Halbertal, printed by the Magnes Press of the
Hebrew University. He deals with different approaches of Chazal to
interpretation of text, sometimes more and sometimes less in a Pshat
manner. He has a chapter on Sotah in which he shows a number of approaches
and attitudes to the unfolding tragedy. Highly recommended.
B: The subject in certainly a problematic one. It might ease the pain if
we remind the student that God is willing to be "humiliated" right along
the Sotah. (Bamidbar Rabah, Parasha 9, 19) The portion of Sotah which is
erased into the water has to be written exactly as a Sefer Torah is,
(Mishanh Sotah, 17: and the Gemarah there) The name of God, which we are
never to erase, is erased here, not in order to kill her but in order to
save her and the marriage. God is willing to forgo his "Kavod" for the
sake of Shlom Bayit.
The Gemarah also describes all the efforts of the Kohanim to not come to
the moment of the Hashka-ah, ( ibid. 7: and on) in case she is guilty,
since we do not want the woman to die and we do not want the name of God
erased WITHOUT BRINGING SHLOM BAYIT. The woman is encouraged, though, to
go ahead and drink the water if she knows she is innocent. (ibid.)
C: The ordeal the Sotah has to go through is, of course, not just because
the husband is jealous, as has been suggested by some. The Gemarah in
Sotah 2: rejects the opinions of those who said that either the Kinuy or
the Setirah can be accomplished by less then 2 witnesses. If this was
allowed, contends the Gemarah, then "ein Ladavar Sof" - there is no end
to the matter, meaning the husband will have the power to condemn his
wife to this painful ordeal by just claiming to having warned her.
D: The husband's behavior has to be above reproach or the water will not
[be effective to-zg] check his wife. (ibid., 27: Mishnah and Gemarah
there) So there is no basis to the claim that the Torah looks the other
way when the husband are not faithful when the wife does get punished. It
is true that the punishment is just for a married woman who became a sotah
and not for a husband that wasn't faithful, but this is a discussion
beyond the scope of a posting (which is too long already...)
E: The Ramban on Bamidbar Chapter 5, Posuk 20, is not to be
missed. He talks about how this is the only Mitzvah in the Torah that
requires a Nais to be performed and how the Mitzvah is a sign of the high
state of purity that Bney Israel are on.
Kol Tuv
Avner Taler</HTML>
