Study Sotah folio 8A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
התם קיימא! דמסקינן לה ומחתינן לה כדי לייגעה. דתניא רבי שמעון בן אלעזר אומר: בית דין מסיעין את העדים ממקום למקום, כדי שתטרף דעתן עליהן ויחזרו בהן.
She is already standing there in the Temple courtyard, as that is where the Sanhedrin sits. The Talmud answers: This teaches that they would bring her up and would bring her down repeatedly in order to fatigue her, with the hope that her worn-down mental state will lead to her confession. This was also done with witnesses testifying in cases of capital law, as it is taught in the Tosefta (Sanhedrin 9:1): R' Shimon ben Elazar says: In cases of capital law, the court brings the witnesses from one place to another place in order to confuse them so that they will retract their testimony if they are lying.
ששם משקין את הסוטות וכו׳. בשלמא סוטות, דכתיב: ״והעמיד הכהן את האשה לפני ה׳״, מצורעין נמי, דכתיב: ״והעמיד הכהן המטהר וגו׳״, אלא יולדת מאי טעמא?
§ The Mishnah teaches: Because there, at the Eastern Gate, they give the sota women the bitter water to drink, and there the lepers and women who have given birth are purified. The Talmud asks: Granted, the sota women are given the bitter water to drink there, as it is written: “And the priest should stand the woman before YHWH” (Numbers 5:18), and the Eastern Gate is directly opposite the Sanctuary, which is the area referred to as “before YHWH.” Similarly, with regard to lepers as well, this is as it is written: “And the priest that cleans him should set the man that is to be cleansed, and those things, before YHWH” (Leviticus 14:11). But what is the reason that a woman who has given birth must also be purified there?
אילימא משום דאתיין וקיימין אקורבנייהו, דתניא: אין קרבנו של אדם קרב אלא אם כן עומד על גביו. אי הכי — זבין וזבות נמי! אין הכי נמי, ותנא חדא מינייהו נקט.
The Talmud suggests: If we say it is because of the requirement for the women who have given birth to come and stand over their offerings, as it is taught in a baraita: The offering of a person is brought only if he stands over it while it is being sacrificed, and that is why they stand at this gate, which is as close to the sacrifice as they are permitted to be while they are ritually impure. If that is so, then the same halakha should apply to men who experience a gonorrhea-like discharge [zavim] and women who experience a discharge of uterine blood after their menstrual period [zavot] as well. They are also ritually impure while their offerings are sacrificed. Why would the Mishnah then specify women who have given birth? The Talmud answers: Yes, it is indeed so, and the tanna cited one of them, and the same halakha applies to all others in that category.