SOTAH 23 (6 Kislev) - Dedicated in honor of the Yahrzeit of Eliezer ben Reb Shraga Feivel Marmorstein by his nephew, Mr. David Kornfeld, whom Mr. Marmorstein raised like his own child after the Holocaust.
12TH CYCLE DEDICATION
SOTAH 23-25 - A week of study material has been dedicated by Mrs. Rita Grunberger of Queens, N.Y., in loving memory of her husband, Reb Yitzchok Yakov (Irving) ben Eliyahu Grunberger. Irving Grunberger helped many people quietly in an unassuming manner and is dearly missed by all who knew him. His Yahrzeit is 10 Sivan.

1)

DISQUALIFIED MENACHOS [last line of previous Amud]

(a)

(Continuation of Mishnah): The Minchah is burned in the following cases: she admitted her guilt; witnesses of her guilt came; she refuses to drink; her husband does not want her to drink; her husband had Bi'ah with her after the seclusion.

(b)

If her husband is a Kohen, her Minchah is burned;

1.

Any Minchah of a Bas Yisrael married to a Kohen is (totally) burned;

2.

Any Minchah of a Bas Kohen married to a Yisrael is eaten (except for the Kometz).

(c)

Question: What differences are there between a (male) Kohen and a Bas Kohen?

(d)

Answer: A Bas Kohen's Minchah is eaten. A Kohen's Minchah is not eaten;

1.

A Bas Kohen becomes disqualified to Kehunah through forbidden Bi'ah. A Kohen does not;

2.

A Bas Kohen may become Tamei Mes. A Kohen may not;

3.

A Kohen may eat Kodshei Kodoshim (the Korbanos with the greatest Kedushah). A Bas Kohen may not.

(e)

Question: What differences are there between a man and a woman?

(f)

Answer: A male Metzora does Pri'ah (Tana'im argue if this means to let his hair grow, or to bare his head) and tears his clothes. A female Metzora does not;

1.

A man can impose Nezirus on his son. A woman cannot;

2.

A (male) Nazir can bring Korbanos (when he completes Nezirus) from money that his deceased father set aside for his own Nezirus. A Nezirah cannot;

3.

A man can Mekadesh his daughter to a man. A woman cannot Mekadesh her daughter;

4.

A man can sell his daughter to be a slave. A woman cannot sell her daughter;

5.

A man (liable to be stoned) is stoned naked. A woman is not;

6.

(In some cases, after stoning) a man is hanged. A woman is not;

7.

(In some cases) a man is sold to be a slave to pay for his theft. A woman is not.

2)

THE MINCHAH OF A KOHEN'S WIFE [line 22]

(a)

(Gemara - Beraisa): The Minchah (voluntary, or of a Sotah) of a Kohen's wife is burned.

1.

Whether her father is a Kohen, Levi, or Yisrael, her Minchah cannot be eaten since her husband has a share in it. We cannot burn the entire Minchah (intact) on the Mizbe'ach, because she has a share in it;

2.

Rather, the Kometz is offered, and the rest is offered by itself.

(b)

Question: If something is partially offered on the Mizbe'ach, a Lav (Lo Saktiru) forbids burning the remainder!

(c)

Answer (Yehudah, son of R. Shimon ben Pazi): The remainder is offered as if it were wood, like R. Eliezer;

1.

(Beraisa - R. Eliezer): You may not offer (the remainder) for a pleasing scent (i.e. a Korban), but you may offer it like wood.

(d)

Question: This is a valid answer according to R. Eliezer. According to Chachamim who argue with R. Eliezer, what is done with the remainder?

(e)

Answer: (We burn it on the ash heap), like R. Eliezer b'Rebbi Shimon;

1.

(Beraisa - R. Eliezer b'Rebbi Shimon): The Kometz is offered by itself, and the rest is burned on the ash heap.

23b----------------------------------------23b

2.

Even Chachamim who argue about R. Eliezer b'Rebbi Shimon, argue only about Minchas Chotei of a Kohen, since they hold that it is offered intact (without removing a Kometz). They agree about the Minchah of a Kohen's wife.

(f)

(Mishnah): A Bas Yisrael... (any Minchah of a Bas Kohen married to a Yisrael is eaten).

(g)

Question: What is the reason?

(h)

Answer: It says "every Minchah of a Kohen is entirely burned, it may not be eaten." This applies to a (male) Kohen, not to a Kohenes.

3)

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN [line 8]

(a)

(Mishnah): A Bas Kohen becomes disqualified to Kehunah through forbidden Bi'ah. A Kohen does not.

1.

Question: What is the source of this?

2.

Answer: "He will not profane his seed" - a Kohen profanes his seed, but not himself.

(b)

(Mishnah): A Bas Kohen may become Tamei Mes.

1.

Question: What is the source of this?

2.

Answer: It says "say to the Kohanim, the sons of Aharon", not the daughters of Aharon.

(c)

(Mishnah): A Kohen may eat Kodshei Kodoshim...

1.

We learn from "every male among the children of Aharon will eat it."

(d)

(Mishnah): What differences are there between a man and a woman? (A male Metzora does Pri'ah...)

(e)

(Beraisa) Suggestion: Perhaps "a man" teaches that only a male Metzora can become a Muchlat (totally Tamei)!

(f)

Rejection: "The Metzora who has..." is extra. It includes a woman.

1.

Question: If so, why does it say "A man"?

2.

Answer: This teaches that the subsequent laws of Pri'ah and tearing clothes apply only to a man.

(g)

(Mishnah): A man can impose Nezirus on his son. A woman cannot.

1.

This is a tradition from Sinai.

(h)

(Mishnah): A Nazir can bring Korbanos from his father's money - a Nezirah cannot.

1.

This is a tradition from Sinai.

(i)

(Mishnah): A man can Mekadesh his daughter to a man. A woman cannot.

1.

We learn from "I gave my daughter to this man." (This is said by the father of a Kalah when the Chasan claims that she was not a virgin.)

(j)

(Mishnah): A man can sell his daughter to be a slave. A woman cannot.

1.

We learn from "if a man will sell his daughter."

(k)

(Mishnah): A man is stoned naked. A woman is not.

1.

Question: What is the source of this?

2.

Answer: "They will stone him."

3.

Question: What does this exclude?

i.

Suggestion: A woman is not stoned.

ii.

Rejection: "You will take out the man or the woman (to be stoned)"!

4.

Answer: Rather, a man is stoned (alone, i.e.) without his clothes. A woman is not.

(l)

(Mishnah): A man is hanged...

1.

Question: What is the source of this?

2.

Answer: "You will hang him on a tree", but not a woman.

(m)

(Mishnah): A man is sold to pay for his theft. A woman is not.

1.

Question: What is the source of this?

2.

Answer: "He will be sold for his theft", not for her theft.

PEREK ARUSAH
4)

WOMEN WHO DO NOT DRINK [line 32]

(a)

(Mishnah): An Arusah (a wife between Kidushin and Nisu'in) or a Shomeres Yavam (she is awaiting Yibum) does not drink or receive a Kesuvah. "Under her husband" excludes them;

(b)

The following do not drink or receive a Kesuvah - a widow married to a Kohen Gadol, a divorcee or Chalutzah (one who did Chalitzah) married to a regular Kohen, a Mamzeres (one who descends from Arayos, i.e. incestuous relationships forbidden by Kares) or Nesinah (one of the seven Kena'ani nations) married to a Yisrael, or a Bas Yisrael married to a Mamzer or Nasin.