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Text Excerpt
המקנא לאשתו, רבי אליעזר אומר: מקנא לה על פי שנים, ומשקה על פי עד אחד, או על פי עצמו. רבי יהושע אומר: מקנא לה על פי שנים, ומשקה על פי שנים.
Mishnah: With regard to one who issues a warning to his wife not to seclude herself with a particular man, so that if she does not heed his warning she will assume the status of a woman suspected by her husband of having been unfaithful [sota], R' Eliezer says: He issues a warning to her based on, i.e., in the presence of, two witnesses for the warning to be effective. If two witnesses were not present for the warning, she is not a sota even if two witnesses saw her seclusion with another man. And the husband gives the bitter water to her to drink based on the testimony of one witness who saw the seclusion, or even based on his own testimony that he himself saw them secluded together, as R' Eliezer holds that only the warning requires witnesses, not the seclusion. R' Yehoshua says: He both issues a warning to her based on two witnesses and gives the bitter water to her to drink based on the testimony of two witnesses.
כיצד מקנא לה? אומר לה בפני שנים: ״אל תדברי עם איש פלוני״, ודברה עמו — עדיין היא מותרת לביתה ומותרת לאכול בתרומה.
The Mishnah asks: How does he issue a warning to her in an effective manner? If he says to her in the presence of two witnesses: Do not speak with the man called so-and-so, and she nevertheless spoke with him, she is still permitted to her home, i.e., she is permitted to have sex with her husband, and if she is the wife of a priest she is still permitted to partake of teruma.
נכנסה עמו לבית הסתר ושהתה עמו כדי טומאה — אסורה לביתה, ואסורה לאכול בתרומה. ואם מת — חולצת ולא מתייבמת.
However, if after he told her not to speak with so-and-so, she entered into a secluded place and remained with that man long enough to become defiled, i.e., sufficient time to have sex, she is forbidden to her home from that moment until she undergoes the sota rite. And likewise, if she was the wife of a priest she is prohibited from partaking of teruma, as she was possibly disqualified by her infidelity, so long as her innocence is not proven by means of the bitter water. And if her husband dies childless before she drinks the bitter water, she performs ḥalitza with her late husband’s brother and may not enter into levirate marriage, as, if she had been unfaithful, levirate marriage is forbidden.