Study Sotah folio 23A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
האומרת ״טמאה אני לך״, ושבאו לה עדים שהיא טמאה, והאומרת ״איני שותה״, ושבעלה אינו רוצה להשקותה, ושבעלה בא עליה בדרך,
A woman who confesses and says: I am defiled, and therefore prohibited to you; and a woman with regard to whom witnesses came and testified that she is defiled; and a woman who says: I will not drink the bitter water of a sota, even if she does not confess her guilt; and a woman whose husband changed his mind and does not want to force her to drink; and a woman whose husband had sex with her on the way to the Temple.
וכל הנשואות לכהנים — מנחותיהן נשרפות. בת ישראל שנשאת לכהן — מנחתה נשרפת, וכהנת שנשאת לישראל — מנחתה נאכלת.
And all the women who are married to priests, their meal-offerings are always burned, as the verse states: “And every meal-offering of a priest should be completely burned; it should not be eaten” (Leviticus 6:16). An Israelite woman who is married to a priest, her meal-offering is burned; and the daughter of a priest who is married to an Israelite, her meal-offering is eaten.
מה בין כהן לכהנת? מנחת כהנת נאכלת, ומנחת כהן אינה נאכלת. כהנת מתחללת, וכהן אין מתחלל.
The Mishnah asks a general question: What are the differences between a priest and the daughter of a priest? The meal-offering of the daughter of a priest is eaten by the priests, but the meal-offering of a priest is not eaten. The daughter of a priest can become disqualified from marrying a priest and from partaking of teruma by having sex with someone forbidden to her, but a priest does not become desacralized by having sex with a woman forbidden to him.
כהנת מטמאה למתים, ואין כהן מטמא למתים. כהן אוכל בקדשי קדשים, ואין כהנת אוכלת בקדשי קדשים.
The daughter of a priest may become impure with impurity imparted by a corpse, but a priest may not become impure with impurity imparted by a corpse except for the burial of his 7 closest relatives. A priest may eat from offerings of the most sacred order, but the daughter of a priest may not eat from offerings of the most sacred order.