Gemara Clarity

Sotah 27b

סוטה כ״ז ע״ב

Learn Sotah 27b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Sotah 27b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The husband's physical fitness for the סוטה process; the new פרק כשם שהמים: the water checks the בועל, she is forbidden to him, and the teachings said 'on that day'.

Overview

The amud first finishes a comparison between husband and wife. A husband who is lame, has no hands, or cannot speak cannot make his wife drink, just as such a wife cannot drink. Then פרק ארוסה closes and a new פרק opens. Its משנה teaches that the water checks the בועל just as it checks the woman. It also teaches that she is forbidden to the בועל just as she is forbidden to her husband. רבי עקיבא and רבי learn this second rule from the word נטמאה in different ways. The משנה then lists more teachings said 'on that day': a שני loaf makes a שלישי impure, the 1000 and 2000 אמות around the cities of the לויים, how בני ישראל sang שירת הים, and that איוב served ה׳ out of love. After two of these teachings (the שלישי loaf and איוב), רבי יהושע wishes his teacher רבן יוחנן בן זכאי could see it. Finally the גמרא begins by asking who 'him' in the משנה means, and this question continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

״וְהֶעֱמִיד הַכֹּהֵן אֶת הָאִשָּׁה לִפְנֵי ה׳

"And the priest shall stand the woman before the Lord

... וְנָתַן עַל כַּפֶּיהָ״

...and place in her hands"

— כָּךְ הוּא —

— so too him —

אִם הָיָה חִיגֵּר אוֹ גִידֵּם,

if he was lame or without hands,

The steps (19)

  1. StatementA lame or handless husband cannot make his wife drink
  2. StatementA mute husband cannot make his wife drink
  3. Conclusionהדרן — Closing פרק ארוסה
  4. StatementThe water checks the בועל too
  5. StatementShe is forbidden to the בועל as well as to her husband
  6. Statementזכריה בן הקצב taught the same thing
  7. Statementרבי learns it from the word being written twice
  8. StatementA second-level loaf makes a third loaf impure
  9. Statementרבי יהושע wishes his teacher could see this
  10. StatementTwo verses about the land around the Levite cities
  11. ResolutionOne thousand is the מגרש, two thousand is the תחום שבת
  12. StatementAnother reading: one thousand of open land, two thousand of fields and vineyards
  13. StatementThe extra word 'saying' shows the people answered after משה
  14. StatementThey sang it like שמע, not like הלל
  15. Statementאיוב served out of love
  16. ChallengeThe verse can be read two ways
  17. ProofA second verse settles it: love
  18. Statementרבי יהושע's cry to his teacher
  19. QuestionWho is the man the water checks?