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Text Excerpt
ולא מתייבמת. [אמר לך רב: ] אמינא לך אנא סוטה ודאי, ואמרת לי את סוטה ספק! ומאי שנא סוטה ודאי (מאי טעמא) — משום דכתיב בה טומאה,
and may not enter into levirate marriage. This indicates that the levirate bond does apply to a sota, which contradicts Rav’s statement. The Talmud retorts that Rav could have said to you: I spoke to you about a sota whose infidelity was definite, and you speak to me of an uncertain sota. There is no proof that this wife who secluded herself with another man was actually unfaithful, and due to the uncertainty she must still undergo ḥalitza. The Talmud raises a difficulty: And what is different about a definite sota? Is it different because the term defilement is written with regard to her?
סוטה ספק נמי טומאה כתיבא בה! דתניא: רבי יוסי בן כיפר אומר משום רבי אלעזר: המחזיר גרושתו מן הנישואין — אסורה, מן האירוסין — מותרת, משום שנאמר: ״אחרי אשר הטמאה״.
But with regard to an uncertain sota, who was alone with a specific man enough time to have sex, defilement is written as well. As it is taught in a baraita: R' Yosei ben Keifar said in the name of R' Elazar: With regard to one who remarries his divorcée after she had been married to another man, an act prohibited by Torah law, if he remarried her following actual marriage to another, she is forbidden to her first husband. However, if he remarried her following mere betrothal to another man, she is permitted, because it is stated: “Her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she was defiled” (Deuteronomy 24:4), and a woman who was merely betrothed was never defiled, as no sex had taken place.
וחכמים אומרים: אחת זו ואחת זו — אסורה, אלא מה אני מקיים ״אחרי [אשר] הטמאה״ — לרבות סוטה שנסתרה.
And the Rabbis say: Both this one and that one, i.e., whether she had been fully married or merely betrothed to another, she is forbidden to her first husband. Rather, how do I establish the phrase: “After she was defiled”? This verse does not refer at all to the case of a woman who married another man lawfully, as she is not called “defiled.” Rather, it comes to include a sota who secluded herself with another man, as she is forbidden to her husband due to the concern that she might have committed adultery. This baraita shows that a sota is termed “defiled,” despite the fact that hers is an uncertain case.