daf bit: Sotah 19

[cellio]

The torah describes the ritual of the sotah, a woman accused by her husband of adultery. If the husband insists, the woman can be forced to drink a potion in which a parchment containing the divine name has been disolved. If she is guilty, unpleasant things happen to her; if she is innocent, there is no effect. The consequences can be severe, so the g'mara discusses whether a husband can force this ritual more than once. If she has been proven innocent, can he accuse her again later? And if she is divorced and remarries, can she again be put in jeopardy by the second husband? And does it matter if she is accused of impropritety with the same man both times? In the case of the same husband and the same lover all agree that she must go through this trial only once (no matter how many alleged incidents there are); in the case of two husbands and two different lovers all agree that she is subject to this trial twice. The other cases -- one husband and two lovers, or two husbands and one lover -- are disputed. (18b - 19a)

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

I think if she's innocent, she's also promised a child will come soon.

(IMHO, if the husband is so jealous that it gets to the sotah stage more than once... I don't know that I'd want to stay married to him!)

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

There is debate regarding what promise is given to the innocent Sotah. One opinion guarantees her children (this leads nicely to a midrash that Hannah wanted to be warned not to seclude herself with any certain someone (she didn't care who) so that she could make herself a sotah and then be innocent and have children...not sure if that is more or less awful than the things women must now endure to have children through fertility treatments). The other opinion says that her future children will be better.

[cellio]

Tomorrow's daf covers this, as it turns out (and thus tomorrow's daf bit). Not Channah; that's elsewhere. But the reward and the reasoning that hey, if she gets kids out of it, wouldn't any but the most virtuous women set themselves up for the accusation to get the reward?

[cellio]

(IMHO, if the husband is so jealous that it gets to the sotah stage more than once... I don't know that I'd want to stay married to him!)

I'm with you. Of course, halachically she's not the one who gets to decide. :-(

[siderea]

This just raises the question of what the blood serum half-life of the divine name is, anyway. Are some women more extensive metabolizers? Is it first or second pass metabolized? Which cytochromes are involved?

[cellio]

I'm going to have to guess that the half-life is either infinity or epsilon. On the epsilon side, once it makes contact, if she's guilty it's too late. On the infinity side, anything less would imply that the divine name is subject to erosion of some form, and that would be imperfect. (Err, I think. Theologic theory isn't my strong suit.)

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

...doesn't dissolving the divine name in a potion break the command not to erase it?

[cellio]

Yes, it does, which is part of why subjecting someone to this ritual is very serious. The torah lays out the specifics (else this would be a non-starter). I expect there's a pile of rabbinic commentary to the effect that preserving a marriage (by proving the woman's innocence) is that important. The ritual itself is pretty degrading, though, so even when she's proven innocent, it's still unpleasant all around -- for her, for her husband (though less so), and for the priests who have to administer it.