Yerushalmi Sotah 3:4 ירושלמי סוטה ג׳:ד׳

MISHNAH: She does not finish drinking before her face becomes yellow, her eyes protrude, and her veins swell. She is taken outside so that she does not pollute the temple courtyard. If she has merit, it suspends. There is merit which suspends for one year, there is merit which suspends for two years, there is merit which suspends for three years. From this, Ben Azai concluded that one is obligated to teach his daughter Torah, so that when she needs to drink, she will know that the merit will assist her. Rebbi Eliezer says: whoever teaches his daughter Torah teaches her debauchery. Rebbi Joshua said: a woman prefers one qab and frivolity to nine qabim and abstinence. He used to say: a foolish pious man, a sly wicked man, a predatory woman, and hits by the predatory, these are the ones who ruin the world.

HALAKHAH: “She does not finish drinking”, etc. But did we not think to say “All of them, not part only⁸⁸Cf. Note 48; it was agreed that the water will not become active until the woman finished drinking.”? It is as if somebody said, X did not finish drinking when he started shaking⁸⁹This is a manner of speech meaning “immediately”..

“There is merit which suspends for one year, there is merit which suspends for two years, there is merit which suspends for three years.” There is merit which suspends for one year,” from Nabuchadneṣar: “At the end of twelve months.⁹⁰Dan. 4:26. It is written in v. 24: Therefore, o king, take my advice: atone for your sins by deeds of charity and for your misdeed by kindness to the poor, then your peace will be prolonged.
In the Babli, 20b, and in Sifry Num. 8, this is attributed to R. Ismael as maximum time lag for the water’s action.” “There is merit which suspends for two years,” from Amnon: “It was after two years.⁹¹2S. 13:23. Absalom managed to kill Amnon two years after the latter had raped Tamar.” “There is merit which suspends for three years,” from Ahab: “They sat for three years when there was no war between Aram and Israel.⁹²1K. 22:1. Everywhere in talmudic literature is the nameless “king of Israel” of Chap. 22:1–38 identified with Ahab mentioned in vv. 39–40. The three years are counted from the judicial murder of Nabot.” Rebbi Yose said, it was said that the entire twelve months he⁹³Probably referring to Nabuchadneṣar; but in the current text it refers to the first year of Ahab after Nabot’s murder. occupied himself with deeds of charity. And all these two⁹⁴In Tosaphot, 20b s. v. יש, the reading is “three years.” This reading is slightly suspect since the Babli (21a) accepts only the merit of Torah study as a saving device for Jews (works of charity really being the main vehicle of salvation for Gentiles). years he occupied himself with Torah. That is what it says: “They were in a Yeshiva⁹⁵A talmudic academy. for three years when there was no war between Aram and Israel.”

⁹⁶In different wording, the following two paragraphs are in Sifry Num. 8, copied in Num. rabba 9(39).“An offering of remembrance,” a general statement; “referring to sin”, a detailed statement. If a general statement is followed by a specific one, the general does not mean more than the specific⁹⁷The fifth hermeneutical rule of R. Ismael: The only purpose of the offering is to lead to the punishment of the wife should she be found guilty. In the Sifry, the argument is in R. Ismael’s name.. If you say so, do you not find the argument disadvantaged? If punishment, which is given out sparingly, can refer, then reward, which is given out in abundance⁹⁸Cf. Halakhah 1:7, Note 269, Babli 11a. Tosephta 4:1 notes that the second of the Ten Commandments defines the measure of reward as at least 500 times the measure of punishment (since “thousands” are at least 2000, the ratio is ≥ 2000/4)., should do so much more! But, “an offering of remembrance,” if she has merit, “referring to sin”, if she has no merit. It was stated: Rebbi Tarphon said, all statements of “remembrance” in the Torah⁹⁹All occurences of זכרון in the Pentateuch except Num. 5:15,18. R. Tarphon holds with R. Simeon in the next Mishnah that it is preposterous to assume that the procedure has any value if it is inactive in most cases. have a good meaning except this one which is for punishment. Rebbi Aqiba said to him: If it only said, “referring to sin”, and then was silent, I would agree with your statement. But since it says “an offering of remembrance,” this must be for a good [purpose].

It was stated: Rebbi Jehudah says in the name of Rebbi Eleazar ben Matthias: It says, “but if the woman was not impure but was pure¹⁰⁰Num. 5:28..” Would we not know that if she was not impure she was pure? Why does the verse say, “but she was pure”¹⁰¹In Sifry Num. 19, the double expression is justified: R. Ismael holds that she only is permitted to her husband if the procedure had shown her innocence. An anonymous source notes that if she got a divorce after the procedure or her husband died, she was free to marry the man she was suspected of having an affair with; if she was divorced for adultery, the adulterer would be forbidden to her.
The Yerushalmi text is copied in Num. rabba 9(50).? Only that at the end the Omnipresent rewards her for the abuse, that if she was sterile she will become pregnant¹⁰²In the Babli, 36a, and Sifry Num. 19, the first clause, about the sterile becoming pregnant, is R. Aqiba’s; all the others are attributed to R. Ismael. In the Babli Berakhot 31b, the attributions are switched., [if she] was having difficult births she will have easy ones, [if she] had ugly children she will have good looking ones¹⁰³This clause is missing in the parallels. In Babylonian historical spelling, it would be כעורים., black ones she will have white ones, short ones she will have tall ones, females she will have males, single children she will have twins. Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish¹⁰⁴This attribution to a second generation Amora is quite impossible in a tannaїtic text; in the Babli and Sifry Num. the argument is R. Ismael’s. It seems that the Yerushalmi refers to R. Simeon ben Ioḥai, quoted in the next sentence. said to him: If it were so then all women should be misbehaving in order to become pregnant! But does Rebbi Simeon not interpret “she will be found innocent and become pregnant with seed”? He does, legitimate seed, not illegitimate¹⁰⁵In Halakhah 4:1, a similar (anonymous) argument is quoted to show that a divorcee married to a priest cannot be subjected to the procedure of the suspected wife because even if she was innocent she could not have legitimate seed from the husband forbidden to her; her children from the priest are desecrated..

Ben Azai does not follow Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah¹⁰⁶R. Eleazar ben Azariah obligates women to listen to the Torah but not to study it., as it was stated¹⁰⁷Ḥagigah Babli 3 a; Yerushalmi 1:1.: It happened that Rebbi Joḥanan ben Beroqa and Rebbi Eleazar Ḥasma were walking from Jabneh to Lydda when they were visiting Rebbi Joshua in Beqiïn¹⁰⁸In the Babli: פקיעין. The locality is not identified; it cannot be the place of the same name in Galilee.. He asked them, what was new today in the House of Study? They said to him, we all are your students and drink from your waters. He said to them, even so, it is impossible that there not be a new idea every day in the House of Study. Who stayed there over the Sabbath? They said to him, Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah. And what was his text? “Assemble the people, men, women, and children.¹⁰⁹Deut. 31:12.” What did he say about this? Since the men come to learn and the women to hear, why do the children come? It must be to give a reward to those who bring them. He said to them, the generation is not orphaned which counts Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah among them.

¹¹⁶Babli Yoma 66b; Num.rabba 9(53). A lady asked Rebbi Eliezer, why did one sin of the golden calf lead to three different kinds of death¹¹⁷In the aftermath of the sin of the golden calf, it is stated (1) that the Levites killed about 3000 men (Ex. 32:28), (2) that the people died of a plague (Ex. 32:35), (3) that Moses ground the golden calf into dust, spread it on water and let the people drink, in imitation of the soṭah ritual (Ex. 32:20).? He said to her, the wisdom of a woman is only in her spinning rod, as is written: “All wise women span with their hands.¹¹⁸Ex. 35:25. R. Eliezer intended to insult the woman who had dared to study Torah (In the Babli, she is called “a wise woman” and her question is dealt with at length by Rashi in his commentary on the Pentateuch). It is not clear whether this represents the general teaching of the House of Shammai or that of R. Eliezer alone.
Since it is common practice to teach Pentateuch and its interpretation to girls it is impossible to understand how Maimonides and Joseph Caro could have R. Eliezer’s statement included in their Codes.” His son Hyrkanos said to him, in order not to give her an answer you made me lose 300 kor of tithes every year¹¹⁹The lady must have been exeedingly rich if her tithes, given to a Cohen, amounted to 300 kor or 9’000 modii.. He answered him: May the words of the Torah be burned and not be delivered to women! After she had left, his students said to him, rabbi, this one you pushed away with a stick, what do you explain to us? ¹²⁰In the Babli, this answer and the following one are attributed to "one of Rav or Levi ben Sissi.” Rebbi Berekhiah, Rebbi Abba bar Cahana in the name of Rebbi Eliezer: Anybody against whom there were witnesses and warning was executed in court¹²¹According to rabbinic theory, nobody can be convicted by biblical standards unless (1) the crime was witnessed by two witnesses of sterling character and (2) criminal intent is proven by two witnesses who testify that the criminal was informed that his intended deed would subject him to prosecution and nevertheless he persisted in his criminal behavior.. Anybody against whom there were witnesses but no warning was checked similar to a suspected wife¹²²One has to assume that this procedure was part of the police powers granted to Moses in his position of king of the Israelites, and that the guilty persons died from the gold water.. Anybody against whom there were neither witnesses nor warning died from a plague. Rav and Levi bar Sissi both say: One who sacrificed, burned, and poured out a libation was executed in court¹²³Since these are acts of Temple worship, as idolatrous practices they are capital crimes (Mishnah Sanhedrin 7:6).. He who clapped his hands, danced, laughed, was checked similar to a suspected wife¹²⁴These are sinful practices if in idolatrous intent but not criminally prosecutable.. If he enjoyed himself silently, he died from a plague¹²⁵Since this sin was known only to God, its punishment was by the Hand of Heaven..

Who is a foolish pious man? He saw a baby struggling in a river¹³⁰Really, “making bubbles”, because it is drowning. In the Babli, 21b, it is a woman drowning whom he cannot save because it would hurt his salvation if he looked at a woman.. He said, after I take off my phylacteries¹³¹Since the phylacteries contain biblical verses, they are holy. He is too ignorant to realize that the commandment to save a life overrides all other commandments except those involving murder, incest and adultery, and idolatry., I shall save him. By the time he takes off his phylacteries, that one is dead. He saw a prime fig and said, I shall give it to the first person I shall meet. He saw a preliminarily married girl and ran after her¹³²Since it is a commandment to keep one’s word, he brings himself into a situation in which he can be killed. The Mishnah quoted states that if one observes a person bent on committing a murder, a homosexual rape, or the rape of a preliminarily married girl (Deut. 22:23–24), one may kill the attempting murderer or rapist with impunity. If the girl is afraid of him when he presents the fig and runs away, religious law would force him not to run after the girl.. That is what we have stated¹³³Mishnah Sanhedrin 8:7: These are the people one may save [from sinning] by killing them: “If somebody pursues another to kill him, or after a male (for homosexual rape), or after a preliminarily married girl [one may kill the perpetrator]; but one who pursues an animal (for sodomy), desecrates the Sabbath, or commits idolatry one may not save by killing him.” A bystander can kill a person bent on committing a capital crime only if thereby he saves another human being.: “If somebody pursues another to kill him, after a male, or after a preliminarily married girl.”

“A sly wicked man.” Rebbi Zeriqan in the name of Rav Huna: That is one who chooses leniencies for himself and teaches restrictions to others¹³⁸Babli 21b, as one possibility of many.. ¹³⁹The same text Berakhot Chapter 1, Notes 192–199; Yebamot Chapter 1, Notes 256–261. Cf. Babli Erubin 6b, 13b. In this matter, it was stated: “About anybody who wants to take upon himself the stringencies both of the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel it was said: ‘The silly one walks in darkness’. The leniencies of both of them, he is called wicked. Only either following the words of the House of Shammai in their leniencies and stringencies, or following the words of the House of Hillel in their leniencies and stringencies.” That is, before there came the disembodied voice. But after the disembodied voice was heard, “practice follows the House of Hillel forever.” And any who transgresses the words of the House of Hillel is deserving of death. It was stated: There came the disembodied voice and said: “Both of them are the words of the Living God, but practice follows the House of Hillel forever.” Where was the disembodied voice heard? Rav Bebai in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: The disembodied voice was heard at Yabneh.

A predatory woman¹⁴¹The Babli has no parallel explanation since it interprets אשה פרושה to mean “a pious woman”.. That is one who sits and makes fun of the words of the Torah: “She said, you shall come to me … and he slept with her that night.¹⁴²Gen. 30:16, Leah buying a night with Jacob from her sister Rachel. R. Abbahu’s explanation is slightly more elaborate in Gen. rabba 72(4).” Rebbi Abbahu said, one could think that this was the [divine] intention. He only knew that she was doing this only to produce more tribes.

“Hits by the predatory”. That is the one who counsels the orphans to hide support from the widow¹⁴³In the Babli, 21b, this is an opinion of R. Joḥanan.. As the following: Rebbi Sabbatai’s widow was wasting the estate. The orphans came before Rebbi Eleazar. He said to them, what can one do for you; you are stupid¹⁴⁴This is a corruption in the Leiden and Rome mss. (from their common Vorlage). The text is better in the Geniza ms: אָמַר לוֹן וּמַה נֵיעֲבַד לְכוֹן אַלוֻךְ אִימָּה שַׁטְייָ מִדְּנַפְקוֹן אָֽמרִין ל׳ כְּתוֹבֵיהּ עִמְדוּ עַד נֵימַר לְכוֹן מַה אָמַר. “He said to them, what can I do for you, your charge is a senile mother. When they left, his scribe told them: stay here until I shall explain to you what he meant.”
Occupational names of the measure pĕ‘ôlāh have been recognized by L. Ginzburg in the Yerushalmi: קְרוֹבָה the liturgical poet, דְּרוֹשָׁה the preacher, כְּתוֹבָה the scribe; all masculine. In the Geniza texts published by M. A. Friedman, Jewish Marriage in Palestine, Tel Aviv and New York 1981, one finds four כתובא times and כתובה three times.. Some scribe came out and said to them: I shall tell you what he said: Behave as if you would sell¹⁴⁵The ketubah was a lien on the deceased’s real estate. The crooked counsel was that the heirs should loudly declare their intention to sell the real estate, which would force the widow eventually into lengthy court proceedings to recover her lien. The idea was to force the widow into demanding to be paid her ketubah, which immediately would terminate her right to support but would allow the heirs to somewhat drag their feet before paying up. The honorable thing would have been to offer the widow to pay her the ketubah in a lump sum, in the hope that she would accept the offer. Since then the initiative would be the heirs’, the widow’s support would have to be paid until the money was delivered in full. and she will demand her ketubah¹⁴⁶Greek φερνή “dowry”. and lose her support. In the evening she came before Rebbi Eleazar. He said, this one was hit by the predatory. It should come over me¹⁴⁷An oath formula, “such and such shall come over me if I intended that”. if I had intended that¹⁴⁸He disclaimed authorship of the counsel his (?) scribe had given in his name. It is not reported whether he reversed the transaction..

¹⁴⁹The same text Peah 8:8, Notes 112–115; it is referred to in Babli 21b. A student of Rebbi had 199 denar; Rebbi used to let him receive the tithe of the poor once every three years. His students cast an evil eye on him and completed for him. The next time, when he wanted to let him receive as usual, he said: My teacher, I have the measure. He said, this one was hit by a beast of prey. He gave a hint to his student who took him to a store, made him spend a carat, then he (Rebbi) let him receive as he was used to do.

They added to these¹⁵⁰To the list of the destroyers of the world. a fasting virgin¹⁵¹In the Babli (22a): A praying virgin., a neighborly widow, and a child outgrowing his months¹⁵²In the Babli (22a), except the Munich ms.: “a premature baby”.. A fasting virgin; she pretends to have lost her hymen by fasting¹⁵³But in reality she slept around.. A neighborly widow, by running around¹⁵⁴The Geniza ms. probably has another reading which, however, is not readable. The translation follows Arukh, s. v. חגל. she spreads bad reputations. A child outgrowing his months: Rebbi Ḥilqiah in the name of Rebbi Simon. That is one who is more advanced in his studies than usual for his age and he denigrates those older than him. Rebbi Yose said, that is one nine-years-old who looks like a twelve-years-old. He sleeps with any of the incest prohibitions in the Torah and they are executed because of him but he is free from prosecution¹⁵⁵The sex act of a minor less than 9 years old has no legal consequences. If the boy is 9 years and one day old, his sex act counts: if a married woman sleeps with him, she is criminally liable for adultery but he is not responsible since he is a minor. Cf. Yebamot, Chapter 3, Note 143..