Study Sotah folio 28A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
that if he has committed a similar iniquity the water evaluates his actions, this is difficult, as in a case where he has committed a similar iniquity does the water even evaluate her fidelity? But isn’t it taught in a baraita that the verse: “And the man shall be clear from iniquity, and that woma
And if the Mishnah is rather referring to the alleged paramour, who is also evaluated by the water that the woman drinks, then let the Mishnah teach as is taught in its latter clause: Just as she is forbidden to her husband, so too is she forbidden to her paramour. Just as there the paramour is me
The Talmud answers: The entire Mishnah actually does refer to the paramour, and the reason he is not mentioned explicitly in the first clause of the Mishnah is because since it teaches that the water evaluates whether the wife was unfaithful by using the direct object her, it also teaches that the
§ In the Mishnah R' Akiva proves that the water evaluates the paramour as well, as it is stated: “And the water that causes the curse shall enter into her” (Numbers 5:24), and: “And the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter” (Numbers 5:27). A dilemma was raised before th
Come and hear a proof from R' Akiva’s second statement in the Mishnah, where he says: Just as she is forbidden to her husband, so too is she forbidden to her paramour, as it is stated: “Is defiled [nitma’a],” “And is defiled [venitma’a]” (Numbers 5:29). Here it seems that R' Akiva derives his interp