Sotah 022

1:
Having discussed in the previous mishnah what the officiating priest must write, our present mishnah now teaches how the writing must be effected. The Torah [Numbers 5:24] calls the potion which the woman must drink 'the cursed bitter water', meaning the water that bears the curse. This is understood as meaning that the curse which the woman calls upon herself if she has indeed committed adultery is transferred to the water which she imbibes and which passes into her body. (I have mentioned previously my own view that it was the thought that she was drinking into her system the ineffable divine name that was the real threat which was designed to adjure the woman to confess rather than do this.)

2:
Our mishnah relates to the usual writing equipment of the time. The text may not be written on a block of wood, nor on papyrus, nor on leather – presumably because it would be very difficult to get them into the basin. However the reason for using a parchment scroll uniquely is based on the fact that the Torah requires the adjuration to be written 'in a book'.

3:
The Hebrew root 'sfr' bears the basic meaning of to cut. Originally writing was etched into stone or – more probably – onto clay tablets. This explains the common root of such diverse words as writing, counting, books, scissors, hairdressers, border territories etc. The usual form of preserving writing was in a 'book' – pieces of parchment that had been cut and sewn together to form a scroll. (Interestingly enough, it was not until the high middle ages that someone first had the idea of piling the leaves of writing one on top of the other and binding them together instead of sewing them in a long line: the first 'book' as we understand the term today.)

4:
Thus, the requirement of the Torah that the words of the adjuration be written 'in a book' is inevitably understood as requiring them to be written on a parchment scroll – such as the scrolls on which mezuzzot and tefillin are written to this day.

5:
Our mishnah also speaks of the ink to be used. Gummed ink is probably something like 'shoe blacking' – black resin. Calcanthos was also a solution (of copper sulphate) that was used for permanent writing. The ink to be used for writing this scroll of the Sotah must be the same as that used to this day for writing a Sefer Torah. The compound is such that the ink rests on top of the parchment and does not sink into it. This means that the scribe can easily lift it off the page if he has made an error. (This also explains why the friction of constant rolling means that the text of a Sefer Torah can become defective as the ink is prised off the page.) It also means that the ink on the little parchment scroll will easily dissolve into the water in the basin.

We have discussed the possible/probable origin of the term 'wicker basket' on several occasions. Joshua Peri returns with the following comment:

I will continue to guess. Wicker baskets could have been called 'mitzrit' just as, in contemporary America, straw hats are called 'Panama' and short pants 'Bermuda'.

I respond:

Yes, could be. (This topic is now closed.)

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Aryeh Abramowitz has sent me the following piece of curious information which may be of interest to Israeli participants:

This is not directly connected to the shiur, but I thought the other members might be interested: here are two articles about the Jerusalem Theatre Company, who produced a play 'Sotah' based on the material in the mishna we are studying. BTW, I've been to the play and recommend it.

From the Jerusalem Post | From Hadassah