Study Sotah folio 15B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
דשמעיה לרבי מאיר דקאמר: היא האכילתו מעדני עולם — לפיכך קרבנה מאכל בהמה. אמר לו: התינח עשירה, עניה מאי איכא למימר! אלא: כשם שמעשיה מעשה בהמה — כך קרבנה מאכל בהמה.
And why did Rabban Gamliel speak up? It was because he heard R' Meir saying an alternative explanation: She fed him, i.e., her paramour, delicacies from around the world; therefore, her offering is animal food. Rabban Gamliel said to him: Your explanation works out well in the case of a rich sota, but with regard to a poor sota, who cannot afford such delicacies, what is there to say? Rather, the reason she brings an offering of animal food is: Just as her actions were the actions of an animal, so too her offering is animal food.
מתני׳ היה מביא פילי של חרס ונותן לתוכה חצי לוג מים מן הכיור. רבי יהודה אומר: רביעית. כשם שממעט בכתב, כך ממעט במים.
Mishnah: The priest would bring an earthenware drinking vessel [peyalei] and he would pour into it half a log of water from the basin in the Temple. R' Yehuda says: The priest would pour only 1/4th-log of water. Just as R' Yehuda minimizes the writing, as he requires that less be written on the scroll of the sota than do the Rabbis, so too he minimizes the amount of water to be taken from the basin for the erasing of the text.
נכנס להיכל ופנה לימינו, ומקום היה שם אמה על אמה, וטבלא של שיש, וטבעת היתה קבועה בה כשהוא מגביה, ונוטל עפר מתחתיה, ונותן כדי שיראה על המים, שנאמר: ״ומן העפר אשר יהיה בקרקע המשכן יקח הכהן ונתן אל המים״.
The priest would enter the Sanctuary and turn to his right. And there was a place there, on the Sanctuary floor, with an area of a cubit by a cubit, and a marble tablet [tavla] was there, and a ring was fastened to the tablet to assist the priest when he would raise it. And the priest would take loose dust from underneath it and place the dust into the vessel with the water, so that the dust would be visible upon the water, as it is stated: “And the priest should take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is on the floor of the Tabernacle the priest should take, and put it into the water” (Numbers 5:17).