How did they erase the parshas sotah? I always thought they rubbed out the letters over the cup of water and the dry ink feel into the cup. My chavrusa thought they put the actual klaf in the water which erased the letters. We didn't see a clear raya one way or the other?
Yitzchak E Gross, Inwood NY United States
You are both right! Rabbi Shlomo Lewenstein, in his Sefer "Alei V'radim" on Soita, writes that "this topic is not openly clarified in the Gemora or Rishonim and when {the question} was asked to the sages of our generation, to some it was simple like this (letters scraped into the water) and to others it was simple like that (entire parchment inserted into water)". He then proceeds to bring many different proofs and indications to both of the sides.
Shimon Brodie