Sotah 041
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BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
RABIN MISHNAH STUDY GROUP
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What are the differences between a man and a woman? A man lets his hair grow and rips his garments, a woman does not do so. A man may declare his son a Nazir, a woman may not do so. A man may end his term using his father's Nazirite savings, a woman may not do so. A man may sell his daughter, a woman may not do so. A man may betroth his daughter, a woman may not do so. A man is stoned naked, this is not so with a woman. A man is hanged, a woman is not. A man is sold for theft, a woman is not.
EXPLANATIONS:
1:
Our mishnah, the last in this chapter, starts off with a startling general question: 'What are the differences between a man and a woman?' The continuation of the mishnah makes it clear that the question only concerns some legal and ritual distinctions between the two sexes. Eight differences are mentioned in the mishnah. 2:
… He is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean… The leper in whom the plague is shall wear torn clothes, and the hair of his head shall hang loose.
In his commentary on these verses Rabbi Avraham Ibn-Ezra states that the purpose of these requirements is so that the leper will look different so that people will keep their distance from him.
Our present mishnah states that these precautions are not to be taken by a woman who is thus afflicted. The sages base this distinction in a manner that is now quite familiar to us: "the verse says 'he is a leprous man' – a man and not a woman!" I suspect, however, that the underlying reason for this distinction is that it was considered too disgraceful for a woman to let down her hair and to have torn garments that might possibly display parts of her body. 3:
God spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the Israelites, and tell them: When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to God, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink… All the days of his vow of separation there shall no razor come on his head, until the days are fulfilled, in which he separates himself to God. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long… When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and he shall offer his offering to God, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings… The Nazirite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings.
The passage makes clear that the termination ceremony involves the presentation of special offerings (which are detailed in the Torah) and he shall shave off his hair. Our mishnah teaches that if a person became a Nazirite he may purchase these offerings with money which had been set aside by his father for a similar purpose but never used. The story of Samson in the book of Judges [chapter 13] is an example of a Nazirite who did not himself take this vow, but who was dedicated as a lifelong Nazir by has father. Our present mishnah points out that neither of these two rules concerning the Nazir are applicable to women. In his commentary on our mishnah Rambam states that these two rules, differentiating between the sexes in the matter of the Nazirite, are unexplained. They are 'Halakhah le-Moshe mi-Sinai' – they are the oral law as dictated to Moses at Sinai with no explanation which has been handed down.
To be continued. Chanukah Same'ach to everybody! |
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