Gemara Clarity

Sotah 35b

סוטה ל״ה ע״ב

Learn Sotah 35b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The ארון's journeys, the stones set up when entering ארץ ישראל, and how the Torah was written on them

Overview

This amud finishes the story of the people of בית שמש, who spoke to the ארון in a mocking way and were punished. רבי אבהו and רבי אלעזר explain the puzzling numbers 'seventy men, fifty thousand men.' Next, two פסוקים give different offerings for when דוד brought the ארון to ירושלים. רב פפא בר שמואל and then רב חסדא explain that both offerings were brought, at different intervals. רבי יוחנן explains why the place where עוזא died is called both 'כידון' and 'נכון.' The גמרא then lists three sets of stones set up by משה and יהושע. A ברייתא brings a מחלוקת between רבי יהודה and רבי שמעון about whether the Torah was written under the plaster or on top of it, and how the nations could learn it. Each side reads the פסוק 'משרפות סיד' in its own way. The amud ends by asking which view a ברייתא about accepting repentant כנענים follows, and the answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

מַאן אַמְרְיָךְ (לְהָא) דְּאִימָּרַיְיתְּ

Who angered you, so that you became angry?

וּמַאן אֲתָא עֲלָךְ דְּאִיפַּיַּיסְתְּ.

And who came to you, so that you were calmed down?

״וַיַּךְ בָּעָם שִׁבְעִים אִישׁ

"And He struck among the people seventy men,

חֲמִשִּׁים אֶלֶף אִישׁ״,

fifty thousand men."

The steps (17)

  1. StatementThe disrespectful words of the people of בית שמש to the ארון
  2. StatementHow many people were struck: seventy or fifty thousand?
  3. ChallengeTwo פסוקים give different counts of the offerings
  4. Resolutionרב פפא בר שמואל: both offerings happened, at different intervals
  5. Challengeרב חסדא: that would mean far too many altars
  6. Resolutionרב חסדא: the offerings were spaced more widely
  7. ChallengeTwo Different Names for the Same Threshing Floor
  8. ResolutionFirst a Spear, Then Settled
  9. StatementThree Sets of Stones, Starting with משה's Set in מואב
  10. Statementיהושע's Stones in the ירדן and in the גלגל
  11. StatementHow the Torah Was Written on the Stones
  12. Challengeרבי שמעון asks how the nations could learn a covered Torah
  13. Resolutionרבי יהודה: the nations peeled off the plaster and copied the Torah
  14. Statementרבי שמעון: the Torah was written on top of the plaster
  15. Proofרבא בר שילא gives the source for רבי שמעון
  16. ResolutionHow רבי יהודה reads the plaster verse
  17. QuestionWhich opinion does the ברייתא about repentant כנענים follow?