Jewish audio on chabad.org. We are holding in Masechet Sotah דף כ, 11 lines from the top, the Mishnah. And the Mishnah says: עד שלא נמחקה המגילה, if as long as the מגילה was not yet erased, אמרה the סוטה said איני שותה, I do not want to drink, she does not want to drink the מים המאררים, מגילתה נגנזת, her מגילה should be hidden. And as Rashi says, on the side of the היכל there was a special place where all the כתבי קודש which were not ראוי to be read were hidden. And this too was put in that place. The reason why it has to be hidden is because it cannot be destroyed, because it has Hashem Yitbarach's name on it, and it also cannot be used for someone else, because it was written for this סוטה's name. And the Mishnah says weiter: ומנחתה מתפזרת על הדשן, and the מנחה should be spread out on the ashes. As Rashi says, in the עזרה there was a special place where they used to burn all the פסולי קדשי קדשים and the פסולי אימורים. And this too was spread out on the ashes so that it will be burnt. The Mishnah continues: ואין מגילתה כשרה להשקות בה סוטה אחרת, her מגילה that was prepared for her is not kosher that they would use it for another סוטה. Because when you write the מגילה for the סוטה, it has to be written לשמה, has to be written for the sake of that woman that it is going to be used for. Because the Torah says ועשה לה הכהן, the כהן should do it to her, so we darshen from the word לה it has to be לשמה, for her sake. And therefore the מגילה that was written for another woman, another סוטה, cannot be used for a second סוטה. Then the Mishnah continues:

נמחקה המגילה ואמרה טמאה אני, if the מגילה was erased already, and then she said I am טמאה, which means she admits that she did the עבירה, המים נשפכין, the water gets poured out, ומנחתה מתפזרת על בית הדשן, and her מנחה gets spread out on the בית הדשן. They burn her מנחה in that special fire that was in the עזרה. נמחקה המגילה, if the מגילה was erased, ואמרה איני שותה, and she says I will not drink, she doesn't say I became טמאה, she doesn't admit that she did the aveirah, but she still says I refuse to drink, מערערין אותה, they influence her, ומשקין אותה בעל כרחה, and they give her to drink by force. In other words, this Mishnah learns that when she says that I don't want to drink, this is not a proof that she became טמאה, and this does not mean that she admits that she became טמאה. Because could be she is טהור, and the reason she doesn't want to drink is because she's afraid that even if she is טהור, the water might have an effect on her. So therefore we say to her, it's too late, since the מגילה was erased, you must drink, and they give her to drink by force. Then the Mishnah continues with the procedure of what would happen to her after she drinks if she became טמאה:

אינה מספקת לשתות, she doesn't even manage to finish drinking, עד שפניה מוריקות, till her face would become green, ועיניה בולטות, and her eyes would start bulging out, והיא מתמלאת גידין, and she gets full of veins, which means her face blows up, and as Rashi explains, all the veins of her face start showing, it seems as if she becomes full of veins. והם אומרים, and the people there would say, הוציאוה, take her out, שלא תטמא העזרה, she shouldn't make the עזרה טמא. And the Gemara will discuss later, what is the reason they were afraid that she shouldn't make the עזרה טמא. And the Mishnah continues: אם יש לה זכות, היתה תולה לה, if she had a zechut, a special merit, that would suspend the effect of the water. And the Gemara will explain what kind of zechut we are talking about here. And the Mishnah says: יש זכות תולה שנה אחת, there could be a merit that would suspend the effect of the water for a year. יש זכות תולה ב' שנים, there could be a zechut that would suspend it for two years. יש זכות תולה ג' שנים, there could be a zechut that would suspend it for three years. And the Mishnah continues:

מכאן אומר בן עזאי, because of that Ben Azzai says, חייב אדם ללמד את בתו תורה, a person is obligated to teach his daughter תורה, שאם תשתה, because if she will drink, if she will ever become a סוטה and have to drink the water, תדע, she will know, שהזכות תולה לה, that the reason that it was suspended was because the zechut made it suspend. In other words, if it'll come a time that she will be teme'ah, and she will drink the water and see it took no effect, this will tell her that there is nothing to be afraid of of the water, so she will continue of being immoral. And if she learns Torah, and she knows that it's possible for a zechut to suspend the effect of the water, but it'll take effect a little later, so when she sees that the water didn't take effect, this will not be a reason for her to continue with her immoral behavior, because she will know that eventually the water will take effect anyway. Mishnah continues: ר' אלעזר אומר, but ר' אלעזר says, כל המלמד בתו תורה, anybody who teaches his daughter תורה, כאילו למדה תפלות. It's as if, or according to one girsa, it's not as if, it really is, that what? That he teaches her immorality. And the Gemara will explain how can we say that if you teach your daughter Torah, it's as if you teach her immorality? Mishnah continues: ר' יהושע אומר, ר' יהושע says, רוצה אשה בקב ותפלות מתשעה קבין ופרישות. And the Chachamim understood that the nature of a woman is that she would rather have, she would prefer prefer to have only one kav, to live on a small amount, but to have taflut, which means sexual indulgence, rather than to live on nine kavim, to have a lot, but to be parush, to be separated from her husband. And as Tosafot explains, the Tosafot are printed on דף כ"א עמוד ב', but Tosafot explains there that we know in the halachah that there are different levels in onah. Onah means the time that the husband is supposed to spend with his wife. If a person's business, or a person's job is to travel a lot, then the Chachamim said that he must be with his wife at least once a month. But if his job, his business is at home, then he has to be more often. So the Chachamim said that a woman would prefer that her husband should not make a lot of money, but to be home and be with her more often than to be far away and not to be with her that often, even though he will make more money. Then the Mishnah continues: הוא היה אומר, he used to say, chasid shoteh, a chasid a fool, a person who is very pious, but he is a fool, and the Gemara will explain what is considered a chasid shoteh. Or rasha arum, a sly rasha, and the Gemara will explain that too. Ve'ishah perushah, a woman who seems to be a perushah, who seems to be very careful with the mitzvot. Or makot perushim, the makot of those people who seem to be very pious, very frum. And as Rashi explains why it's called מכות, because they knock their heads against the wall, wanting to show that they're very humble and that they're very צנועה, etc. So he says that all these people, הרי אלו מבלי עולם, they are the ones that destroy the world, and the Gemara will explain why these people are the מבלי עולם. Now we learn the Gemara. Gemara says: אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל משום ר' מאיר, Rav Yehuda said in the name of שמואל in the name of ר' מאיר: כשהייתי לומד תורה אצל רבי עקיבא, ר' מאיר says, when I learned תורה by רבי עקיבא, הייתי מטיל קנקנתום לתוך הדיו, I would put קנקנתום into the ink. In other words, he was a sofer, and when he would write the Sefer Torah, he would put קנקנתום, which is a special ingredient that would make the ink shouldn't be able to be erased. ולא אמר לי דבר, and Rabbi Akiva didn't say anything to me, in other words, he allowed him to do it. כשבאתי אצל רבי ישמעאל, when I came to רבי ישמעאל, אמר לי, he said to me: בני, my son, מה מלאכתך, what is your job? אמרתי לו, I said to him: לבלר אני, I am a סופר. אמר לי, so he said to me: בני, my son, הוי זהיר, be very careful, שמלאכתך מלאכת שמים היא, because your job is a heavenly job. שמא תחסיר אות אחת, you might miss out one letter, או תתיר אות אחת, or you might have an extra letter, נמצאת אתה מחריב את כל העולם כולו, you could destroy the whole world by adding one letter or taking off one letter. And Rashi gives an example: For instance, if he will take off the alef from the pasuk where it says אלקים אמת, so instead of אמת, it'll say אלקים, meaning מת. Or if you have an extra letter, for instance, if instead of writing בראשית ברא אלקים, in the beginning Hashem created, he would write בראשית בראו אלקים, he would add extra וי''ו to the word ברא, that would mean that אלקים in plural created the world, which means that there are many gods, chas veshalom. So therefore he said to him, be very careful when you write the sefarim that you write. אמרתי לו, so I said to him: דבר אחד יש לי, I have this one thing, שאני מטיל לתוך הדיו, that I put into the ink, וקנקנתום שמו, it's called קנקנתום. And the Gemara אמר לי, so he said to me, וכי מטילין קנקנתום לתוך הדיו, do you put קנקנתום into the ink? Are you allowed to do that? התורה אמרה ומחה, the Torah says by the case of the Sotah that you should erase the words written on a megillah. That means it has to be a כתב שיוכל להמחק, it has to be a writing that could be erased. And as Rashi explains, when he said that you have to have a writing that could be erased, that only refers to the parsha of Sotah, because this פסוק ומחה, that you should erase, says by the parsha of Sotah that you have to erase the parsha of Sotah. So what he meant was that only when you write the parsha of Sotah, you are not allowed to put the קנקנתום into the ink. And Rabbi Yishmael holds that you are allowed to use the parsha of Sotah that's written in a Sefer Torah to use that for a Sotah. In other words, he holds that it doesn't have to be written lishmah, you don't have to write a special megillah for that Sotah, you could take out from a Sefer Torah the parsha of Sotah and use that for a Sotah. And therefore he said, since the din is that for a Sotah you must use the ink that could be erased, and since you're allowed to take out the parsha of Sotah from a Sefer Torah, so how could you write the parsha of Sotah in a Sefer Torah with an ink that cannot be erased? So how can you put קנקנתום into your ink? And now the Gemara will go back to explain the discussion between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yishmael. And the Gemara asks, מאי קאמר ליה ומאי קא מהדר ליה? What did Rabbi Yishmael say to Rabbi Meir and what did he answer him? In other words, what did Rabbi Yishmael say to Rabbi Meir that Rabbi Meir's answer makes sense? Rabbi Meir said to him, "I have something I put into the ink which is called קנקנתום." Rabbi Yishmael told him, "You should be very careful, don't add an extra word and don't take off an extra word because you could be מחריב the world. You could destroy the whole world." So he answers him, "You know, I have something I put into the ink which is קנקנתום." What kind of answer is that to what Rabbi Yishmael said to him? And the Gemara answers, הכי קאמר ליה, this is what he said to him: לא מיבעיא בחסרות ויתרות דבקי אנא, not only am I בקי, am I clear in חסר ויתיר, which means which word has to be written with an extra letter and which word has to be written with a letter missing, אלא אפילו למיחש לזבוב, but more than that, even to be afraid that a fly might come, דדילמא אתי ויתיב אתאגא דדל''ת, a fly might come and sit on the תג, on the corner, on the point of the דל''ת, ומחי ליה, and might erase it, ומשוי ליה רי''ש, and might turn it into a רי''ש. And that could be very bad, because, for instance, if you write ה' אחד, which means Hashem is one, so if that דל''ת, the corner of the דל''ת, is erased and it turns into a רי''ש, it reads ה' אחר, Hashem is someone else. So he said, even that I am afraid of. And therefore, what do I do about it? דבר אחד יש לי, I have this one thing, שאני מטיל לתוך הדיו, that I put into the ink, וקנקנתום שמו, it's called קנקנתום. And that makes sure that the word, the letter cannot be erased, and it could never be turned into a רי''ש from a דל''ת, or anything similar to that. Then the Gemara asks, איני? It is not so. The whole story as we brought before is not so. We find in a Baraita where the story is reversed. והתניא, we learned in a Baraita, אמר רבי מאיר, רבי מאיר said, כשהייתי לומד תורה אצל רבי ישמעאל, when I learned Torah by רבי ישמעאל, הייתי מטיל קנקנתום לתוך הדיו, I used to put קנקנתום into the ink, ולא אמר לי דבר, and Rabbi Yishmael didn't say anything to me. כשבאתי אצל רבי עקיבא, when I came to רבי עקיבא, אסרה עלי, he made it asur on me. He told me that I shouldn't, he forbade me from putting in קנקנתום into the ink. So we have here two contradictions: קשיא שימוש אשימוש, קשיא אסרה אאסרה. There is a stirah concerning whom Rabbi Meir was meshamesh first, Rabbi Akiva or Rabbi Yishmael, because the way we said before was that first he went to Rabbi Akiva, and then he went to Rabbi Yishmael. But in this baraita it says that first he went to Rabbi Yishmael, and then he went to Rabbi Akiva. That is one contradiction. There's also a contradiction, before we said that when he went to Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Akiva allowed him to put in the קנקנתום, Rabbi Yishmael was the one that asked him why he did it, told him that you're not allowed to do it. And in this baraita it says just the opposite. It says that by Rabbi Yishmael he put קנקנתום into the ink and he didn't say anything to him, so Rabbi Yishmael allowed him to do it, and Rabbi Akiva was the one that forbade him from doing it. And the Gemara continues: בשלמא שימוש אשימוש לא קשיא, ממילא the stirah, the contradiction of whom he attended first, where he learned Torah first, that's not a kushya, because מעיקרא אתא לקמיה דרבי עקיבא, cuz really, he came came first to Rabbi Akiva. כיוון דלא מצי קם אליביה, since he couldn't understand what he was teaching him, Rabbi Akiva's way of learning was through sevarot, so he couldn't follow, he couldn't understand, so אתא לקמיה דרבי ישמעאל, so he came then to רבי ישמעאל וגמר גמרא. He learned Gemara, which means he learned a lot of dinim. Then הדר אתא לקמיה דרבי עקיבא, then he went back to Rabbi Akiva, סבר סברא, then he learned sevarot, he learned to understand the depth of the sevarot. So it's true both: he went first to Rabbi Akiva and then to Rabbi Yishmael, but it's also true that he was first by Rabbi Yishmael and then he was by Rabbi Akiva, because he came to Rabbi Akiva twice, once before he went to Rabbi Yishmael and once after he went to Rabbi Yishmael. אלא אסוריה אאסוריה קשיא, but the other kashya, the contradiction concerning who allowed him to do it and who forbade him to do it, that is a kashya, because the way we brought it before it seems that Rabbi Akiva allowed him to put the קנקנתום in and Rabbi Yishmael was the one that forbade him, and in the baraisa it said that Rabbi Akiva was the one that forbade him and Rabbi Yishmael was the one that allowed him. The Gemara says kashya, that is a kashya, there is no answer. It seems to be a contradiction between these two statements. Then the Gemara continues: תניא, we learned in a ברייתא, רבי יהודה אומר, רבי יהודה says, אומר היה רבי מאיר, רבי מאיר used to say, לכל מטילין קנקנתום לתוך הדיו, concerning everything you're allowed to put קנקנתום into the ink, חוץ מפרשת סוטה בלבד, except the פרשת סוטה itself, because the פרשת סוטה, even the way it's written in the Sefer Torah, you're not allowed to put קנקנתום into the ink when you write that. רבי יעקב אומר משמו, but Rabbi Yaakov said in the name of Rabbi Meir that this is not what Rabbi Meir said. What Rabbi Meir said was that חוץ מפרשת סוטה של מקדש, except the פרשת סוטה of the מקדש, which means that when they used to write the פרשת סוטה for a סוטה, that's when you weren't allowed to put קנקנתום into the ink, but when you write the פרשה of סוטה in the Sefer Torah, then you are allowed to put קנקנתום into the ink. The Gemara says, מאי בינייהו? What is the difference? In other words, what is the reasoning for their machloket? אמר רבי ירמיה, רבי ירמיה said, למחוק לה מן התורה איכא בינייהו, whether you're allowed to erase it from the Torah, that is the difference. In other words, the מחלוקת is based on whether you're allowed to use the פרשה of סוטה the way it's written in the ספר תורה for an actual סוטה. So the way it's brought first in the name of רבי מאיר, he held that you are allowed to use the פרשה of סוטה from the ספר תורה for a סוטה, and therefore he said that you're not allowed to write the פרשה of סוטה in a ספר תורה with ink that cannot be erased, because the פרשה of סוטה has to be erased. But רבי יעקב learned that you cannot use the פרשה of סוטה from a ספר תורה for a סוטה, so therefore we're allowed to write the פרשה of סוטה in a ספר תורה even with קנקנתום, even though it cannot be erased, but the פרשה of סוטה that was written on that special מגילה when it was actually written for a סוטה, that's when the דין is that you're not allowed to put קנקנתום into the ink because it has to be erased. Then the גמרא continues: והני תנאי כי הני תנאי, and these two תנאים who argue in this point, whether you're allowed to use the פרשה of סוטה from the ספר תורה or not, really argue in the same מחלוקת as other תנאים do. דתניא, because we learned in a ברייתא, אין מגילתה כשרה להשקות בה סוטה אחרת, you're not allowed to use the מגילה of one סוטה to give to drink to another סוטה. רבי אחא בר יאשיה אומר, but רבי אחא בר יאשיה said, מגילתה כשרה להשקות בה סוטה אחרת, that her מגילה is כשר to be used to give to drink to another סוטה. What is their machloket? The machloket is obviously whether when you write the פרשה of סוטה does it have to be written לשמה for the sake of this specific סוטה or not. The first תנא learns that it must be written לשמה, and therefore he says you cannot use the פרשה סוטה from one for the other, and the second תנא, which was Rabbi Acha bar Yoshiya, he learned that you don't have to write it לשמה, and therefore if it was written for one, you could use it for the other. And this is the same machloket as the תנאים that we mentioned before, because the machloket whether you're allowed to use the פרשה of סוטה from a Sefer Torah or not is really based on the same machloket. If you must write the פרשת סוטה לשמה for the sake of this specific woman, then you cannot take it out of the Sefer Torah because that was not written for this סוטה, it wasn't written לשמה, but if you learn it doesn't have to be written לשמה, then you could take it out of the Sefer Torah. So when we explained before that the machloket was whether you're allowed to take it out of the Sefer Torah or not is really the same machloket as these two תנאים. The machloket is whether the פרשה of סוטה has to be written לשמה or it doesn't have to be written לשמה. אמר רב פפא, but Rav Pappa said, דילמא לא היא, maybe it's not so. Maybe you cannot compare the two arguments. עד כאן לא קאמר תנא קמא התם, because maybe the only reason the תנא קמא says in the second ברייתא that a מגילה that was written for one סוטה cannot be used for another סוטה is only אלא כיון דאינתק לשם רחל, since it was designated for a specific woman, for רחל for instance, לא הדר מינתק לשם לאה, so then it cannot be designated for לאה, and therefore it cannot be used. אבל Torah, but to take it out of a תורה, דסתמא כתיבא, it is written stam, it is not designated to anybody, הכא נמי דמחקינן, maybe he would admit that you could erase from the Torah for the sotah. In other words, he only says that when is it pasul if it was written for another woman? But if it was not written for anybody, even though it was not lishmah, maybe he will admit it's good. אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק, and Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said he also is going to ask a question that we cannot compare the two machlokets, but in the other direction. דלמא לא היא, maybe it is not so, maybe we cannot compare the two machlokets. עד כאן לא קאמר רב אחא בר יאשיה התם, maybe the reason Rav Acha bar Yashiyah says there that if you wrote a megillah for one sotah you could use it for the other סוטה, אלא במגילה, only if it was a specific megillah written for a sotah. So even though it was written for one, it could be

used for the other because דאיכתיב לשם אלות בעולם, because as long as it was written for the sake of the kelalot, for the sake of the curses of a sotah. אבל תורה, but the one that's written in the תורה, דלהתלמד כתיבא, it's written to learn in, הכא נמי דלא מחקינן. Maybe תקי you cannot erase from there, you cannot use it for a sotah. And as Rashi explains, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak is not arguing on Rav Pappa, even though he's asking his kashya in the opposite direction, to the other extreme, but nevertheless, all he is saying is that the question can be asked in two directions, in two ways. You could ask the question the way Rav Pappa asked, that it's possible that the Tanna Kama who holds that in the case of it being written for one cannot be used for the second would admit in the case where it was written in the Sefer Torah. On the other hand, you could ask the kashya on the other direction, that maybe the one that holds that in the case that it was written for another woman is good, will say that in the case of the Sefer Torah it's not good, because of the two sevarot as the Gemara mentioned them before. Then the Gemara continues, ורב אחא בר יאשיה לית ליה, doesn't Rav Acha bar Yashiyah hold that כותב לגרש את אשתו, if someone wrote a get to divorce his wife, ונמלך, and he changed his mind, מצאו בן עירו, another man of the same town found him, ואמר ליה, and he says to him, שמי כשמך, my name is like your name, ושם אשתי כשם אשתך, my the name of my wife is the same as the name of your wife. So, what he's saying to him, "Let me use the get for myself. Since you don't want to use it, and all the names of the get fit, the names of the man and the woman and the city fit, so let me use it." So the din is that פסול לגרש בו, he's not allowed to divorce with it. So the Gemara שאלה is, doesn't Rav Acha bar Yashya agree to this din? So, therefore, just like by the case of get it must be written lishmah, so too the megillah of the Sotah should be written lishmah. So how could Rav Acha bar Yashya say that if it was written for one woman, it could be used for another woman? And the Gemara answers, אמרי, I'll tell you. התם, over there by the case of a גט, וכתב לה אמר רחמנא, the Torah says it should be written for her, so we learn out being that we need ketivah lishmah. It should be written lishmah. So that is a din by get only, that a get must be written lishmah because of the specific pasuk that says by גט, וכתב לה. But the Gemara asks, הכא נמי ועשה לה, doesn't it say here too, by the case of the סוטה, ועשה לה, that the kohen should do to her, and it says the same word לה, so we should darshan the same thing. It should be done lishmah. So the din should be that if a מגילת סוטה was not written for this specific woman, it should be pasul. And the Gemara answers, מאי עשיה, what does doing mean when the Torah says ועשה לה, it should be done for her, and we darshan from here it has to be done lishmah, what do we mean it has to be done lishmah? What is the doing part of it? That is mechikah, the erasing. So what Rav Acha bar Yashya holds that it has to be erased lishmah, that when you erase it you have to erase it for the sake of this specific woman. But the writing does not have to be done lishmah, and therefore he holds if a מגילה was written for one Sotah, it could be used for another Sotah. Then the Gemara continues to explain the rest of the Mishnah. It

said in the משנה, אינה מספקת לשתות, she doesn't manage to finish drinking עד שפניה מוריקות וכו׳, till her face gets green, etc. Gemara says, מני, who is the tana of this Mishnah? רב שמעון היא, this only fits according to רב שמעון, דאמר, that he holds, מקריב את מנחתה ואחר כך משקה, that first you מקריב the קרבן מנחה, and then you give her to drink. And that is why, as soon as she finishes drinking, right away, her face starts getting green, etc. Because if it would be according to the other opinion, that first she drinks, and then she is מקריב the מנחה, then how could the Mishnah say that as soon as she finishes drinking, or even before she finishes drinking, her face starts getting green, in other words, the water takes effect, when the דין is that דכל כמה דלא קרבה מנחתה לא בדקו לה מיא, as long as you are not מקריב the קרבן מנחה, the water doesn't take effect. דכתיב, because it says, מנחת זכרון מזכרת עון, the מנחה of remembrance, which reminds of the עבירה. So which thing reminds of the עבירה, and which thing causes her to start being punished? The being הקרבה of the קרבן מנחה. So if you hold that first you drink and then you bring the מנחה, so it's impossible to say that as soon as she finishes drinking, which is before the מנחה, the punishment starts taking place. So therefore, when it says in the Mishnah that as soon as she drinks, right away it starts taking effect, this only goes according to Rav Shimon that says that first you bring the מנחה and then you drink, so by the time you drink, that's when the water takes effect. But then

according to that, the Gemara asks, אימא סיפא, look into the סיפא, let's learn the end of the Mishnah. It says in the משנה, יש לה זכות, היתה תולה לה, if she had a zechut, that would suspend the effect of the water. הא סתמא רבנן, that only goes according to the Rabbanan, and that cannot go according to Rav Shimon. דאי רב שמעון, because if it would be רב שמעון, הא אמר, רב שמעון says later on in the משנה, אין זכות תולה במים המרים, that a zechut does not suspend the effect of the מים המרים, of the bitter waters. So it comes out that there is a contradiction in the Mishnah: the reisha of the Mishnah only goes according to Rav Shimon, and the seifa of the Mishnah cannot go according to Rav Shimon. So who is the Mishnah like? אמר רב חסדא, Rav Chasda said, הא מני רבי עקיבא היא, this goes according to Rabbi Akiva, דאמר that he also says מקריב את מנחתה ואחר כך משקה, that first you מקריב the קרבן מנחה and then you give her to drink, as we learned in the blatt before that Rabbi Akiva in this aspect holds like Rav Shimon. ובזכות, and in the case of זכות, whether a זכות suspends the effect of the water or not, סבר לה כרבנן, Rabbi Akiva holds like the רבנן, that the זכות does suspend. And therefore, the Mishnah fits: the reisha is Rabbi Akiva, and the seifa could also be Rabbi Akiva because he holds like the רבנן that the זכות suspends the effect of the water. Then the Gemara continues to explain the rest of the Mishnah. It said in the משנה, והם אומרים הוציאוה וכולו, they would say, as soon as it would start taking effect, they would start saying, take her out right away so she shouldn't make the עזרה טמא. So the

Gemara says, mai taima, what is the reason, what are we afraid of, how would she make the עזרה טמא? דדילמא מתה, she might die. And if she dies, the עזרה will become טמא. So the Gemara asks, לימא, let us say, doesn't this seem to say, דמת אסור במחנה לויה, that a מת, a dead body, is forbidden to be brought into the מחנה לויה? Because, as we know, while the Yidden were in the מדבר, in the desert, they were divided into three מחנות, three camps. The משכן itself was considered a מחנה שכינה, the מחנה of Hashem of שכינה. Then there was the second מחנה around it, a second camp, that was called מחנה לויה, the מחנה where the לויים rested, because their camp was around the משכן. And then, further on, where all the other Yidden stayed, that was called מחנה ישראל, the camp of the ישראל. Similar to that, we have in the בית המקדש, even though there are no camps there, because there the Yidden lived in different cities, but there were areas which were equivalent to מחנה שכינה, מחנה לויה, and מחנה ישראל. The היכל, which was the actual building, and part of the עזרה, the עזרת כהנים, that was considered מחנה שכינה. Then the הר הבית, the mountain on which the בית המקדש was built, including the עזרת ישראל, and including up to שער ניקנור, which is the area, one of the doors in the בית המקדש, is all considered the מחנה לויה, and all of Yerushalayim was considered מחנה ישראל. The סוטה would stand in an area which was part of מחנה לויה. She wouldn't stand in the area which was considered מחנה שכינה; she would stand in the area that was considered מחנה לויה. And since it says in the Mishnah that when the punishment started taking place, they said, take her out, she shouldn't make the עזרה טמא, because we were afraid she would die, so this seems to be saying that a dead body is not allowed to stay in מחנה לויה. But how can we say that? והתניא, didn't we learn in a ברייתא, טמא מת מותר ליכנס למחנה לויה, a person who became טמא by touching a dead body is allowed to enter מחנה לויה, ולא טמא מת A person who became טמא by touching a dead body is allowed to enter מחנה לויה, ולא טמא מת בלבד אמרו. They didn't say this only concerning a person who became טמא from a dead body, אלא אפילו מת עצמו, even the מת himself, the dead body itself, is allowed to enter מחנה לויה. שנאמר, as it says, ויקח משה את עצמות יוסף עמו. Says that Moshe Rabbeinu took the bones of Yosef with him, and we דרשן עמו במחיצתו, with him in his camp, in his place where he stayed. And since Moshe stayed in מחנה לויה, and he had the bones of Yosef with him in מחנה לויה, that shows that you're allowed to take a מת, a dead body, into מחנה לויה. So how does that fit with our Mishnah, when our Mishnah says that they ordered to take her out before she dies because they were afraid she would die? But who cares, since it was only מחנה לויה, a מת is allowed to be in מחנה לויה? אמר אביי, Abaye said that they weren't afraid she would die, that's why they ordered her out, but שמא תפרוס נדה. They were afraid she would become a niddah, she would start menstruating, and that's why they said they should take her out, because a niddah is not allowed to be in מחנה לויה. Then the Gemara asks, ואימא, so let us say, דבעיתותא מרפיא, that fear causes the insides to become loose and causes menstruation? That's what we're saying, that we were afraid that since she is going to get scared, she will start menstruating. So is that so, that fear brings it on? And the Gemara answers, אין, yes. דכתיב, as it says in the Torah, in the Megillah it says, ותתחלחל המלכה מאד. When she heard what happened to Mordechai, so it says that the queen was exceedingly grieved. ואמר רב, and Rav says, what does that mean? It means שפירסה נדה. It means that she became a niddah. What caused her to become a niddah? When she heard what happened to Mordechai, she got real scared, and that brought on menstruation. But the

Gemara asks, והא תנן, but didn't we learn that חרדה מסלקת דמים, that trembling holds back the menstrual flow, holds back the blood? This is mentioned in Gemara Niddah concerning a woman who was hidden in a cave because she was afraid. So the din is, even though she didn't make a bedikah, she didn't check herself to know whether the blood came, even though it was a time when she expected her menstrual period to come, she is nevertheless tehorah. Because since she was in a condition of fear the whole time, we say that this held back the blood. So we see that fear holds back the blood, and here we're saying just the opposite, that fear brings on the blood. And the Gemara answers, פחדא צמית, בעיתותא מרפיא. It means that fear holds it back, and fear means if she expects the fear, she knows it's going to come and she's worried the whole time, that holds it back. But if it's a sudden fright, that makes it loose and that makes the blood come. And therefore, by the case of Esther, when she heard what happened to Mordechai, that was a sudden fright, therefore it brought her to become a niddah. In this case too, the Sotah, when all of a sudden she sees what's happening to her, so that is a sudden fright. In a case like that, we say we're afraid she might become a niddah, and that is the reason why it says in the Mishnah that they ordered her out before this happened in order not to make the עזרה טמאה. And now the Gemara continues to explain the rest of the Mishnah. It said in the משנה, יש לה זכות תולה וכו', that if she had a merit, a zechut, that would suspend the effect of the water. And the Mishnah continues that it could suspend sometimes for a year, sometimes for two years, and sometimes for three years. So the

Gemara says, מאן מתניתין, who is the Tanna of this Mishnah? According to who does this Mishnah go? לא אבא יוסי בן חנן, it cannot go according to אבא יוסי בן חנן, ולא רבי אלעזר בן יצחק איש כפר דרום, and not like Rabbi Elazar ben Yitzchak, the man from כפר דרום, ולא רבי ישמעאל, and not according to Rabbi Yishmael. דתניא, because we learned in a ברייתא, אם יש לה זכות תולה לה שלשה חדשים, if she had a zechut, it would suspend the effect of the water for three months, כדי הכרת עובר, which is the time it takes for a pregnancy to be recognizable. And as Rashi explains the reason for three months and the connection between the time it takes for the pregnancy to be recognizable, because it says in the Torah by the case of a סוטה, ונקתה ונזרעה זרע. And the simple meaning of this pasuk is that if she is clean, which means she didn't do the aveirah, so after she drinks the water, she will conceive seed. But this תנא דרש'es it a little bit differently: ונקתה, if she is clean, which means not that she didn't do the aveirah, but she had some kind of zechut that could cause her to be clean, so how long will this zechut last, for how long will she be clean? The water will not take effect, ונזרעה זרע, as long as it takes it takes to recognize the fact that she conceived seed, which means three months, because it takes three months to recognize that a woman is pregnant. This is דברי Abba Yossi ben Chanan, this is the opinion of Abba Yossi ben Chanan. But Rabbi Elazar ben Yitzchak איש כפר דרום אומר, Rabbi Elazar ben Yitzchak, the man from כפר דרום, says, תשעה חדשים, and it could suspend for nine months, שנאמר, because the Torah says by the סוטה, ונקתה ונזרעה זרע, she will be clean, she will conceive seed. ולהלן הוא אומר, and in another pasuk which is in Tehillim קפיטל כ״ב, פסוק ל״א, there it says: זרע יעבדנו יסופר, which means that those זרע, those children that will serve Hashem, יסופר, they will be able to tell, as the pasuk continues, to the next generations the greatness of Hashem. But in the meantime, we see here that the Torah uses the expression זרע, which is the same expression as used in the pasuk of the Sotah: ונזרעה זרע, and there it adds the word יסופר. יסופר means that they will be able to tell. So, from there we learn out that it means זרע הראוי לספר, such זרע which is fit, which is able to tell, to repeat, to talk about the greatness of Hashem. And that is only after a child is born, then we are able to expect that this child will eventually speak about the greatness of Hashem. So, when the Torah says ונקתה ונזרעה זרע, which means ונקתה if she is clean, and according to this peshat it means if she has a zechut, so how long will the zechut last? ונזרעה זרע, as long as it takes for ונזרעה זרע. Which kind of זרע? זרע which are able to tell, זרע which are born. And since it takes nine months for a child to be born, so we say that it will be suspended for nine months. רבי ישמעאל אומר, but Rabbi Yishmael says: שנים עשר חודש, it will be suspended for 12 months. ואף על פי שאין ראיה לדבר, even though there is no proof for that, זכר לדבר, there is a זכר, an indication to that, that a zechut could suspend punishment for 12 months. דכתיב, because there's a pasuk in Daniel. And this is in Daniel, ד׳, פסוק כ״ד, that after Daniel interpreted the dream for Nevuchadnetzar, that he would be found amongst animals, etc. So, he told him afterwards: להן מלכא מלכי ישפר עליך, that therefore, he says, the king, if my words would be good for you, in other words, if you want to accept my advice, so what should you do? וחטאך בצדקה פרוק, you should redeem your sins with tzedakah, with charity, ועויתך במיחן עניין, and your aveirot you should redeem by helping poor people. So, he says: הן תהוא ארכא לשלותך, then you will have a longer time for your peace. In other words, the punishment that you expect to get will come much later if you do this. וכתיב, and the pasuk continues and says: כולא מטא על נבוכדנצר מלכא, it all came on נבוכדנצר, the punishment that he saw in his dream eventually came. וכתיב, it says that when did it come? לקצת ירחין תרי עשר, at the end of 12 months. In other words, the tzedakah that he did, because he did listen to the advice of Daniel, and he did do tzedakah, as Rashi says, he brought the poor people from the galut and he gave them food, etc. So, the tzedakah he did gave him the zechut, and that suspended his punishment for 12 months. So, we see a zechut could suspend punishment for 12 months. So, this is the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael, that it goes up to 12 months. But what the Gemara is asking here, that this does not fit with our Mishnah, none of these opinions, because here we have an opinion of three months, nine months, at most 12 months, but our Mishnah, it says up to three years. So, this does not fit according to any opinion. So, who is the Tanna of our Mishnah? The

Gemara answers: לעולם, באמת we could say it's רבי ישמעאל, ואשכח קרא, he found a פסוק דאמר ותני, the pasuk says and repeats itself and adds more time to the suspension of a punishment. D'chsiv, because it says there's a pasuk in Amos where it says: כה אמר ה׳ על שלשה פשעי אדום, ה׳ said: For the three aveirot of Edom, I'm not going to punish them, but as it continues, ועל ארבעה לא אשיבנו, for the fourth one, I will punish, etc. So, we see here that up to three, Hashem waits. So, in the Mishnah, too, up to three years, Hashem waits with the punishment. So, it comes out that the Tanna of the Mishnah is Rabbi Yishmael, and therefore it says in the Mishnah that sometimes it could suspend it for a year, because that's the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael, but it also says that it could suspend it up to three years, because Rabbi Yishmael has another pasuk where it says that sometimes it's suspended up to three. Then the Gemara asks: ומאי אף על פי שאין ראיה לדבר זכר לדבר, what did he mean to say when he said that even though he has no proof that Hashem suspends punishment for a year, there is only an indication for it, isn't it real proof? It's a clear pasuk where it says that when Nebuchadnezzar did tzedakah and had a zechut, his punishment was suspended for 12 months, for a year. So, why doesn't he consider that as regular proof? The

Gemara answers: דילמא שאני עובדי כוכבים, maybe a goy is different, דלא מפקד דינא עליהו, that Hashem doesn't execute the din, the judgment, directly, immediately on them. So, maybe by a goy it's suspended that long, but by a Yid, maybe Hashem doesn't suspend it that long. Therefore, it is not a proof, but on the other hand, it is an indication that Hashem suspends punishment for 12 months. Continuing we learned before that the opinion of Abba Yosi ben Chanan is that if she has a zechut, it suspends the effect of the water for three months, and the Gemara said כדי הכרת העובר, as long as it takes for a pregnancy to be recognizable. In the Gemara itself, it didn't bring any re'ayah. From where do we know that it's suspended for three months? It is just that we said that Rashi explains, because of the פסוק ונקתה ונזרעה זרע, as long as it takes for the זרע to be recognizable, for the pregnancy to be recognizable. But the Maharsha asks a few kushiyot, and amongst them he asks that if that is the peshat in the Gemara, why didn't the Gemara quote that pasuk? 'Cause when we look into the Gemara, we see in the second opinion where he says it's for nine months, and he learns it out from the same פסוק ונקתה ונזרעה זרע, and he compares it to the other pasuk where it says זרע יעבדנו יסופר, that it has to be a time when the child is already able to talk, that means when he is born, and that's how he knows that it's suspended for nine months. So there the Gemara does quote the pasuk where he learns it out from. So why doesn't the Gemara do the same before? Since it's the same pasuk anyway, so the Gemara

should have quoted the pasuk, that how does he know, Abba Yosi ben Chanan know that it's for three months, כדי הכרת העובר, the Gemara should have said שנאמר ונקתה ונזרעה זרע. And therefore the Maharsha learns a different peshat, that it's not from this pasuk that we learn it out, but he said it's from a sevara. Since every Sotah, when she drinks, there's a 50-50 chance whether she will come out clean or not, we don't know whether she is teme'ah or not, if she is clean, if she did not do the aveirah, what will happen to her? So as the pashut peshat in פסוק ונקתה ונזרעה זרע, if she is clean, she will give birth. When will we be able to tell that she is clean? After she gives birth. If we see that she became pregnant, then we know that she was clean. The same way, if she is not clean, when will we know that she is not clean? Also the same time as it takes to find out that she is clean, which means the same three months it takes to recognize the pregnancy. In other words, there is a possibility for a woman not to be clean, and nevertheless, it'll take a while till we will find out that she was not clean, because she had a zechut, and that suspended the punishment. What while could it take? The same while it takes for us to find out that she was clean, and that is through recognizing that she is pregnant, the same amount of time it could take till we find out that she was not clean. So that shows that it could be up to three months till we will find out that she did the aveirah, which means that this zechut could suspend it for three months.

Another thing the Maharsha says, he asks a kushya on the Gemara: When the Gemara asks who is the tanna of the Mishnah, it couldn't be the first tanna, not the second, not Rabbi Yishmael, because Rabbi Yishmael says it's suspended for 12 months, and in our Mishnah it says it could be suspended up to a year. So the Maharsha asks, in the Mishnah itself it says that there's a possibility for it to be suspended for a year, or for two years, or for three years. So maybe the Mishnah goes according to Rabbi Yishmael, and Rabbi Yishmael just mentions the first possibility, therefore he says 12 months. But it doesn't mean that Rabbi Yishmael also holds that it cannot be for longer. Maybe he holds it could also be for 12, for two years, or for three years. So therefore, the Mishnah could go according to Rabbi Yishmael. Why did the Gemara ask and say that the Mishnah cannot go according to Rabbi Yishmael? And the Maharsha answers that since Rabbi Yishmael brings a pasuk as a proof or as at least as an indication that it's for 12 months, for one year, it seems as if he says that is the limit and it cannot be any more. But at the terutz of the Gemara, when the Gemara said that he has a pasuk also for three years, so then we takeh say that when he brought the pasuk for 12 months, he only mentioned the first possibility. Then there is another possibility up to three years. So according to that, we do say that the Mishnah goes according to Rabbi Yishmael, and when he said up to 12 months, he really meant just to mention

the first possibility, but not that he holds that it cannot go more than 12 months. It is also worthwhile to mention a kushya that the Tosafot Yom Tov asks, and the Rashash elaborates on it: According to the maskana of the Gemara, we know that the zechut could be תולה, could suspend the punishment of the water for three years, we learn it out from a pasuk in Amos. So according to that, what Rashi says in the Mishnah is not understood. In the Mishnah it says that Ben Azzai said, a person should teach his daughter Torah, so that if she will drink and nothing will happen to her, she should know that it is because of a zechut. And Rashi says, that what is the connection between that and learning Torah? Because if she will learn Torah, she will know that from the פסוק ונקתה ונזרעה זרע we learn out that it could be suspended for nine months or more months, as the Gemara will explain later on, Rashi says. But this pasuk only applies if we learn that it's suspended for three months or for nine months. But if we learn it's suspended for 12 months, and later we say it's suspended for three years, it's learned from pesukim not of the Torah, but pesukim from nevi'im. So how could Rashi say that we learn it out from the פסוק ונקתה ונזרעה זרע, if also a kushya on the Mishnah. How could the Mishnah say that he should teach his daughter Torah, then she will know that the zechut suspends it, when really we do not learn it out from the Torah, but we learn it out from נביאים וכתובים? So the Rashash answers that really the word Torah does not only mean Torah, the חמישה חומשי תורה, the five chumashim, but Torah could also refer to נביאים וכתובים. So according to that, we say the peshat that if she will learn Torah, that means she will learn chumash and then she will learn נביאים וכתובים, she will know all the different levels of zechuyot that could suspend the effect of the water. She will learn the פסוק ונקתה ונזרעה זרע, and from there she will know it could suspend for three months or for nine months. She will learn the other pesukim in נביאים וכתובים, she will know it could suspend for a year up to three years. And therefore, this will not be a cause for her to continue acting immoral. So it's no kushya on Rashi why Rashi brings this pasuk, because this is the beginning of the different stages of the suspension of the effect of the water. And when it says Torah, it doesn't only mean the Torah the חמישה חומשי תורה with this pasuk, it means learning through the whole Torah, the whole נביאים וכתובים too, and then she will know all the different levels of the suspension. It's also interesting to note that the Mahartz Chayes here on this Gemara explains an

interesting thing. It says in the Gemara that when Rav Meir came to Rabbi Yishmael, Rabbi Yishmael told him, "Be careful in your job as a sofer, because you should remember that your melachah, your job is a melachat shamayim, a heavenly job. Make sure not to skip a word, not to add a word, because if you could do that, you might destroy the world." So he explains, why did he especially warn Rav Meir in doing that? He says, because we find that it was the custom of Rav Meir to make certain signs and write them on the side of the Sefer Torah to remind him of certain derashot, of certain things to learn out from these different פסוקים. And he brings ראיות to this. For instance, it says in the Midrash in Parashat Bereshit that in the Sefer Torah of Rav Meir, on the word טוב מאוד, where it says that Hashem saw that everything that he created was very good, he wrote that טוב is מות. Then later on, when it says Hashem made for אדם and his wife כותנות עור, garments of skin, so it says that in the Sefer Torah of Rav Meir the word עור was not with an עין which means skin, but אור was with an אלף which means light. Also in the Sefer Torah of Rav Meir, instead of the words ובני דן חושים, it said ובן דן חושים. In Yerushalmi, in the first perek of Taanit it says that in the Sefer Torah of Rav Meir, instead of משא דומה, it said משא רומי. And the מפרשים explain, as the Maharatz Chajes brings, that you can't say that in the Sefer Torah of Rav Meir things were written differently than in our Sefer Torah, chas veshalom to say that. But what does that mean? So the Maharatz Chajes learns that what it means is that in his Sefer Torah, on the side of the different פסוקים, he would write different letters, different hints to remind him of different derashot that were דרשנד on those פסוקים.

Since at that time, you still were not allowed to write down תורה שבעל פה, the din is that the oral Torah was not allowed to be written, and it's only after Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, when he compiled the Mishnayos, he changed it and said עת לעשות לה׳ הפרו תורתך, because people started forgetting the oral Torah, you're allowed to write it down. But till then the din was that you were not allowed to write down תורה שבעל פה, so Rav Meir was not allowed to write down the different derashos that he learned on the different pesukim. On the other hand, he was allowed to make simanim, he's allowed to write signs. As we even find in the Gemara in Eruvin דף נ״ד עמוד ב׳, it says אין תורה נקנית אלא בסימנים. The way to remember the Torah, to קונה the Torah or acquire the Torah, it is through simanim. The Gemara also says in Eruvin דף כ״א עמוד ב׳, it says לימד דעת את העם, it means teach them through simanim. So we see from all this that to make simanim is a good idea, even when you were not allowed to write down the תורה שבעל פה, but it was worthwhile to make simanim. So this is what Rav Meir used to do. He used to make certain simanim and write certain words on the גיליון, on the side, on the empty space of the ספר תורה. And therefore, Rabbi Yishmael warned Rav Meir, make sure to be careful that people should be able to tell the difference between what is part of the Torah, which are the words of the ספר תורה, and which are the words that you are writing as a sign. Because other people, students who will look at your ספר תורה, they will not tell the difference, and by adding a word or taking off a word, they might destroy the world. Therefore he warned him, make sure that people should know which