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Sotah 4:1-2

Sotah 4:1

A betrothed woman and a woman waiting to perform yibum do not drink the bitter water nor do they collect the value of their kesubah as per Numbers 5:29, “a woman who strays from her husband,” which excludes a betrothed woman and a woman waiting to perform yibum. If a widow is married to a Kohein Gadol, a divorcee or a woman who performed chalitzah is married to a regular kohein, a mamzeress or Gibeonite is married to a Yisroel, or the daughter of a Yisroel is married to a mamzer or Gibeonite (all prohibited marriages), these women do not drink the bitter water nor do they collect the value of their kesubah.

Sotah 4:2

The following women neither drink the bitter water nor collect the value of their kesubah: one who confesses infidelity or about whom witnesses testify that she committed adultery; one who refuses to drink. If a woman’s husband does not want to make her drink or if he was intimate with her on the way to the Temple, she collects the value of her kesubah and does not drink. If a woman’s husband died before she could drink, Beis Shammai say she collects the value of her kesubah and does not drink, while Beis Hillel say she neither drinks nor collects the value of her kesubah.

Author: Rabbi Jack Abramowitz