{"id":11817,"date":"2008-06-11T21:01:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-11T21:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/masechet_sotah_2026\/"},"modified":"2015-10-29T09:35:26","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T14:35:26","slug":"masechet_sotah_2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_sotah_2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Masechet Sotah 20a-26b"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coming Week’s Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz<\/em><\/p>\n

This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew version of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud.<\/em><\/p>\n

This month\u2019s Steinsaltz Daf Yomi is sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Alan Harris, The Lewy Family Foundation, and Marilyn and Edward Kaplan<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sotah 20a-b<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Mishnah<\/a> on our daf<\/em>, if the sotah<\/em> is in fact guilty of adultery, after she drinks the “bitter waters” her face will begin to turn green and her eyes will bulge out. \u00a0At that point the people standing nearby immediately remove her from the Temple precincts lest she metamei<\/em> (ritually defile) the holy place.<\/p>\n

The Gemara<\/a> attempts to clarify what the fear of ritual defilement might be. It cannot be a concern that she will die since – at least on a biblical level – someone who is tameh met<\/em> (one whose ritual defilement stems from contact with the dead) is permitted in the ezrat nashim<\/a><\/em> – the area where she is given the “bitter waters.” Abayye<\/a> explains that the concern is that she might bleed and become a niddah<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Gemara offers support to the idea that a sudden fear might cause a woman to become a niddah<\/em> from the passage in Megillat Esther<\/a><\/em> (4:4<\/a>), which is understood by Rav<\/a> to mean that Esther<\/a> became a niddah<\/em> upon hearing that Mordechai<\/a> was in sackcloth following Haman<\/a>‘s decree. At the same time, the Gemara questions whether this is true, given the Mishnah in Masechet<\/a> Niddah<\/a><\/em> which teaches that fear stops a woman from menstruating. The Gemara’s explanation is that although a long-term fear may keep a woman from menstruating normally, a sudden shock may cause a woman to bleed.<\/p>\n

A woman’s monthly menstrual cycle<\/a> is dependent on hormonal activity which is directed by the brain. Severe emotional stress, like a long-term threatening situation, may cause regular menstruation to cease – even for an extended period – until the stressful situation has passed. At the same time, a sudden shock or severe emotional event may cause a woman to bleed outside of her normal cycle.<\/p>\n

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Sotah 21a-b<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Mishnah<\/a> (20a) Rabbi Yehoshua<\/a> mentions a number of people who he categorizes as mevalei olam<\/em> \u2013 those whose actions destroy the world. One of them is a chasid shoteh<\/em> – a “foolish righteous person.” Our Gemara<\/a> defines the term by giving the example of a man who sees a woman drowning and reacts by saying that, as a religious person, it is inappropriate for him to look at her – even though that is the only way to save her.<\/p>\n

In his Mincha Charevah<\/em>, Rav Pinchas Epstein asks why this person is considered a chasid shoteh<\/em>; by allowing this woman to drown, he has transgressed the prohibition of lo ta’amod al dam re’ekhah<\/em> (\u201cdo not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor\u201d – see Vayikra<\/a> 19:16<\/a>) and should be considered an evildoer. One possible answer is that there are other people in the vicinity who can step forward and save her, and he is considered a chasid shoteh<\/em> since he does not hurry to fulfill this important mitzvah<\/a><\/em> because of skewed priorities.<\/p>\n

The definition of a chasid shoteh<\/em> as offered by the Rambam<\/a> is not only someone who refrains from performing mitzvot<\/em> because of what he believes to be religious stringencies, but also someone who is overly concerned with stringencies in general (the example given by the Me’iri<\/a> is someone who fasts on a daily basis). The Talmud Yerushalmi<\/a><\/em> offers other examples to illustrate this concept, including someone who sees a child drowning and decides that he must remove his tefillin<\/a><\/em> before jumping into the water to save him, someone who sees a potential rapist chasing after a young woman and is unwilling to strike out at the person, or even someone who sees a choice fruit on his tree and hurries to give it to charity without first making sure that the basic terumot<\/a><\/em> and ma’asrot<\/a><\/em> (tithes) have been taken properly.<\/p>\n

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Sotah 22a-b<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On yesterday’s daf <\/em><\/a>we learned about Rabbi Yehoshua<\/a>‘s teaching in the Mishnah<\/a> (20a) that a number of people are considered mevalei olam<\/em> – those whose actions destroy the world. Makkot perushim<\/em> is yet another example that Rabbi Yehoshua presents as mevalei olam<\/em>. Our Gemara<\/a> teaches that there are seven types of perushim<\/em> that fall into this category, the common thread among them is that these people are hypocrites who present themselves as God-fearing, religious people when in fact they are just putting on a show.<\/p>\n

The Gemara concludes with the advice that King Yannai<\/a> offered his wife Shlomtzion<\/a> before his passing. He told her that she should fear neither the perushim<\/em> nor the Tzedukim<\/em>, but rather she should fear the hypocrites who present themselves as though they are perushim<\/em>, when in fact they are not. “Their actions are those of Zimri<\/a> (see Bamidbar<\/a> 25:14<\/a>) but they expect to be rewarded like Pinchas<\/a> (see Bamidbar 25:10-13<\/a>).”<\/p>\n

The perushim<\/em> are the Pharisees<\/a>, the sages of the Talmud<\/a>, while the zedukim<\/em> are the Sadducees<\/a>, the elite class that rejected many of the traditions of the perushim<\/em>. According to the Gemara, King Yannai was suggesting to his wife – who was to take the throne upon his passing – that although the he and the perushim<\/em> had been enemies throughout his life, she had nothing to fear from them, since they would not hold his excesses and cruelty against her. Those who made use of their outward religiosity to hide their own desire for personal power were the dangerous ones.<\/p>\n

This deathbed speech is recorded differently in Josephus (Book XIII, Chapter 15, number 5<\/a>), where we find King Yannai telling his wife that she should run her affairs of state entirely according to the direction of the perushim<\/em>. Historical evidence shows that she did so throughout her rule.<\/p>\n

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Sotah 23a-b<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mishnah<\/a> on our daf <\/em>lists a number of differences between men and women with regard to a variety of issues of Jewish law. Among them are:<\/p>\n