The Forbidden Torah: A Feminist Exploration of Selections from Tosefta Sotah (Class 2)

(1) Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn her seven pillars. (2) She has prepared the feast,
Mixed the wine,
And also set the table. (3) She has sent out her maids to announce
On the heights of the town, (4) “Let the simple enter here”;
To those devoid of sense she says, (5) “Come, eat my food
And drink the wine that I have mixed; (6) Give up simpleness and live,
Walk in the way of understanding.”
(7) To correct a scoffer,
Or rebuke a wicked man for his blemish,
Is to call down abuse on oneself.

(8) Do not rebuke a scoffer, for he will hate you;
Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. (9) Instruct a wise man, and he will grow wiser;
Teach a righteous man, and he will gain in learning. (10) The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD,
And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (11) For through me your days will increase,
And years be added to your life. (12) If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;
If you are a scoffer, you bear it alone. (13) The stupid woman bustles about;
She is simple and knows nothing. (14) She sits in the doorway of her house,
Or on a chair at the heights of the town, (15) Calling to all the wayfarers
Who go about their own affairs, (16) “Let the simple enter here”;
And to those devoid of sense she says, (17) “Stolen waters are sweet,
And bread eaten furtively is tasty.” (18) He does not know that the shades are there,
That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

(26) Now, therefore, O God of Israel, let the promise that You made to Your servant my father David be fulfilled. (27) “But will God really dwell [with humankind] on earth? Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain You, how much less this House that I have built! (28) Yet turn, my ETERNAL God, to the prayer and supplication of Your servant, and hear the cry and prayer that Your servant offers before You this day. (29) May Your eyes be open day and night toward this House, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall abide there’; may You heed the prayers that Your servant will offer toward this place. (30) And when You hear the supplications that Your servant and Your people Israel offer toward this place, give heed in Your heavenly abode—give heed and pardon. (31) “Whenever one person commits an offense against another, and the latter utters an imprecation to bring a curse upon the former, and the latter utters an imprecation to bring a curse upon the former [Or “and is made to take an oath and utter a self-imprecation."] and comes with that imprecation before Your altar in this House, (32) oh, hear in heaven and take action to judge Your servants, condemning the one who is in the wrong and bringing down the punishment of their conduct on their head—while vindicating the other, who is in the right, by rewarding them according to their righteousness. (33) “Should Your people Israel be routed by an enemy because they have sinned against You, and then turn back to You and acknowledge Your name, and they offer prayer and supplication to You in this House, (34) oh, hear in heaven and pardon the sin of Your people Israel, and restore them to the land that You gave to their ancestors.

(26) The last loaf of bread will go for a harlot;
A married woman will snare a person of honor.

(14) but a fit of jealousy comes over him and he is wrought up about the wife who has defiled herself—or if a fit of jealousy comes over him and he is wrought up about his wife although she has not defiled herself— (15) that party shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring as an offering for her one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. No oil shall be poured upon it and no frankincense shall be laid on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of remembrance which recalls wrongdoing. (16) The priest shall bring her forward and have her stand before ה'. (17) The priest shall take sacral water in an earthen vessel and, taking some of the earth that is on the floor of the Tabernacle, the priest shall put it into the water. (18) After he has made the woman stand before ה', the priest shall bare the woman’s head and place upon her hands the meal offering of remembrance, which is a meal offering of jealousy. And in the priest’s hands shall be the water of bitterness that induces the spell.

(27) Once he has made her drink the water—if she has defiled herself by breaking faith with her husband, the spell-inducing water shall enter into her to bring on bitterness, so that her belly shall distend and her thigh shall sag; and the wife shall become a curse among her people.

(1) Rabbi Yosei bar Rabbi Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Eliezer, he (i.e., the jealous husband) warns [his wife regarding associating with a certain man] on the testimony of one witness or on his own testimony, and she drinks [the bitter waters] on the testimony of two (se Sot. 1:1). They responded to the words of Rabbi Yosei bar Rabbi Yehuda, there is no end to the matter. § What is the first testimony? That is the testimony of seclusion. The second? That is the testimony of defilement. And how much time [is required] for defilement [to occur]? As much time as it takes for intercourse. And how much time does intercourse take? As much time as the first stage of intercourse. And how much time does the first stage of intercourse take? Rabbi Eliezer says, the time it takes to circle a palm tree. Rabbi Yehoshua says, the time it takes to mix a cup of wine. Ben Azzai says, the time it takes to drink it. Rabbi Akiva says, the time it takes for a weaver to tie a knot. Chanan ben Pinchas says, the time it takes her to stick a finger in her mouth. Peleimo says, the time it takes her to stick her hand into a basket and take out a loaf of bread. And even though there is no proof of the matter, there is a hint to the matter, as it says (Prov. 6:26, JPS tr.), "The last loaf of bread will go for a harlot."

(2) Rabbi Yehuda says: Her husband is trusted regarding her (i.e., not to have had relations with his wife on the journey to the Temple to perform the Sotah ceremony (see Sot. 1:3)). [This is learned out] from a kal v'chomer: Just as [the husband of a] menstruant, who is liable for excision if he has relations with her, is believed regarding her, [then with respect to the husband of a] suspected adulteress, who is not liable for excision if he has relations with her, is it not logical that her husband should be believed regarding her? They said to him: All the more so, since he is not liable for excision for having relations with her, should he not be believed regarding her*i.e., since his punishment is light, he would have less incentive to lie than one faced with excision? Another version: [They said to him,] Not so. If you say that regarding a menstruant, who has permissible factors after the prohibition started*i.e., there will be a time when her menstrual flow ceases and she is permitted to her husband, would you say the same regarding a suspected adulteress, who has no permissible factors after the prohibition started? And thus it says (Prov. 9:17, JPS tr.), "Stolen waters are sweet[, And bread eaten furtively is tasty]." Rabbi Yosei says, Scripture itself believes him regarding her, as it is said (Num. 5:15), "And the man shall bring his wife to the Kohen."

(3) [If the suspected adulteress says that she is pure,] they bring her up to the Eastern Gate, to the Gate of Nicanor, which is where they give the suspected adulteress [the bitter waters] to drink, and [where] they purify women after childbirth, and purify lepers, as it is said (1 Kings 8:31-32), "Whenever a man sins against his neighbor [... and he brings it before Your Altar in this House], You shall hear, O Heavens, and take action and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked to bring down his conduct upon his head" -- [this refers to] (Num. 5:27): "Her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall fall." "And to vindicate the righteous, to bestow upon him according to his righteousness" (1 Kings 8:32) -- [this refers to] (Num. 5:27): "But if the woman did not defile herself and she is pure, she is to be held innocent and she shall bear seed." § She stands within and the Kohen stands without, as it is said (Num. 5:18), "And the Kohen shall stand the woman before Hashem," and there is no Kohen who is "before" Hashem. § Just as they believe [the husband] regarding her so that she will retract [her innocence and confess her guilt (see Sot. 14a:15)], they believe him regarding her so that she will not retract. They say to her, "My daughter, if it is clear to you that you are pure, stand on your clarity and drink, for these waters are similar only to dry poison that is placed on living flesh, which does no damage [as long as the skin is intact], but which if a wound is found there, it penetrates and goes down [into the bloodstream]." (See Sot. 7b:4, Steinsaltz.)

(4) They do not give [the bitter waters] to two suspected adulteresses to drink at one time, so that the heart of one will not be strengthened by the other. Rabbi Yehuda says, it is not for that reason. Rather, it is because of what it says (Num. 5:16), "The Kohen shall bring her close [and stand her before Hashem]." He brings her close, and he does not bring two close.