Study Sotah folio 46B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
״איתן מושבך ושים בסלע קנך״, ואומר: ״שמעו הרים את ריב ה׳ והאיתנים מסדי ארץ״. אחרים אומרים: מנין ל״איתן״ שהוא ישן — שנאמר: ״גוי איתן הוא, גוי מעולם הוא״.
“Firm [eitan] is your residence-place, and your nest is set in the rock” (Numbers 24:21), and it states: “Hear, O you mountains, YHWH’s controversy, and the enduring rocks [eitanim], the foundations of the earth” (Micah 6:2). The use of the word in these verses indicates that “eitan” means something hard, like a rock or a mountain. Others say a different explanation of the word eitan: From where is it derived that eitan means old? As it is stated: “It is an ancient [eitan] nation, a nation from of old” (Jeremiah 5:15).
״ועורפין אותה בקופיץ מאחוריה״. מאי טעמא — גמר עריפה עריפה מחטאת העוף.
§ The Mishnah taught: And they break the neck [orfin] of the heifer from behind with a cleaver. The Talmud explains: What is the reason that the rabbis understood that the heifer is killed in this manner? They derive that the term arifa, which describes what is done to the heifer, refers to breaking the back of the neck, from the term arifa stated with regard to the bird brought as a sin-offering (see Leviticus 5:8).
״ומקומה, אסור מלזרוע ומליעבד״. תנו רבנן: ״אשר לא יעבד בו ולא יזרע״ — לשעבר, דברי רבי יאשיה. רבי יונתן אומר: להבא.
§ The Mishnah taught further: And with regard to its place, it is prohibited for that ground to be sown or to be worked. A baraita states: The verse: “Which may be neither worked nor sown” (Deuteronomy 21:4) is referring to the past, that is, a place which has not previously been worked or sown. This is the statement of R' Yoshiya. R' Yonatan says: It speaks of the future, meaning it is prohibited to sow or work the land from that point onward.