Sotah 025

1:
In order to understand our mishnah we must first note that at the very end of the preceeding mishnah there was mentioned a 'maĥloket' [a divergence of views] between Tanna Kamma and Rabbi Me'ir. Concerning the doubling of the woman's response, 'Amen, Amen' Rabbi Me'ir introduced a new concept: 'Amen that I have not been defiled, Amen that I shall not be defiled.' In other words, Rabbi Me'ir is of the opinion, according to the Gemara [Sotah 18b], that the officiating priest may adjure her that the waters she is about to drink may not only 'investigate' her past actions but will also become operative once again should she be unfaithful in the future. (Halakhah does not follow Rabbi Me'ir.)

2:
Our present mishnah (which, in the Talmud is considered to be an integral part of the previous mishnah) elaborates this last point, the 'maĥloket' between Tanna Kamma and Rabbi Me'ir. Even though Rabbi Me'ir holds that the adjuration may relate also to the woman's future behaviour (with which opinion Tanna Kamma disagrees) they are both of one mind concerning certain other considerations which may not be included in the adjuration.

3:
The priest may not imply in his adjuration of the woman that the effect of the drinking of the 'bitter waters' will cover her sexual behaviour before she received Kiddushin from the husband who is now making her undergo this trial. (He mentions the effect as quoted from the Torah: 'your thigh will fall away and your body will swell'.) In more simple terms: the bitter waters will not 'investigate' her activities before she became obliged to be faithful to her present husband. Similarly, even Rabbi Me'ir will admit that sthe priest may not imply that should her present husband divorce in the future the waters that she will now drink will 'investigate' her sexual behaviour after her divorce.

4:
The text of our mishnah at this point varies in certain manuscripts because of one Hebrew letter. My translation above reflects what is, I hope, the most obvious meaning: if the woman is divorced by her husband and they subsequently remarry the priest may not imply in his adjuration that the waters will 'investigate' her sexual behaviour during the intervening period when she was not actually married to her husband.

5:
Our mishnah concludes with a general proposition: the 'bitter waters' only penetrate the woman's innermost physical and psychological being to 'investigate' her sexual activities regarding her relationship to her husband: any sexual encounter she may have had that would not have rendered her forbidden to her present husband is not included in the 'investigation'. (In other words, this investigation does not include the period before she was married to this man or after he divorces her, nor even a possible intervening period between her divorce and her remarriage to the same man.)

This concludes our study of the second chapter of this tractate.

Albert Ringer asks a question prompted by the response 'Amen': We use the word 'Sela' more or less as a synonym for Amen. I know it originates from psalms and, as far as I know, the original meaning is lost, perhaps an instruction for the singers or musicians. I would like to know what tradition has to say on the use of the word. Could you instruct us on the use of the word in the siddur?

I respond:

The use of the word 'Selah' in biblical poetry is unclear. As Albert points out, one theory is that it is a musical instruction – possibly that the choir is to take up a descant. (This is based on a presumed etymology that the word is connected with a Hebrew root meaning 'go up' or 'raise up'.) The rabbis were no wiser than we are concerning the meaning of this word, which also occurs three times in the prophetic book of Habakkuk. Since the word had no immediately obvious meaning people felt free to imbue it with innovative meaning. In the liturgy it seems to have been accorded the meaning of 'for ever' – a synonym for expressions such as 'le-olam', 'le-olam va-ed', 'la-ad' and so forth. In the Amidah, for instance, it occurs three times and on each of the three occasions it seems best to bear the meaning of 'for ever', 'always'.