Sotah - Daf 27
- דומה vs. בת דומה, רוב בעילות אחר הבעל
Shmuel says: If a person has no other choice: ישא אדם דומה ואל ישא בת דומה – a person should sooner marry a woman of ill repute (i.e., she is broadly suspected of immoral activities), and not marry the daughter of a woman of ill repute, שזו באה מטיפה כשרה וזו באה מטיפה פסולה – because [the mother] comes from fit seed, while [the daughter] possibly comes from unfit seed (the mother, who is suspected of promiscuity, may have conceived from a mamzer or Gentile, rendering the child unfit for marriage). Rebbe Yochanan says the reverse: ישא אדם בת דומה ואל ישא דומה – A person should sooner marry the daughter of a woman of ill repute, and not marry a woman of ill repute,שזו עומדת בחזקת כשרות וזו אינה עומדת בחזקת כשרות – because [the daughter] stands with a presumption of fitness (i.e., she is not herself suspected of adultery), and [the mother] does not stand with a presumption of fitness (she is suspected of adultery, and may become forbidden to her husband without his knowledge). The halachah accords with Rebbe Yochanan, based on a Baraisa: אשה מזנה בניה כשרין – A woman who is mezaneh (has illicit relations), her children are nonetheless fit for marriage to regular Jews, because רוב בעילות אחר הבעל – most relations are with the husband, so the children are presumed to be his.
- Excluding the blind, crippled, and mute from sotah
It was taught in a Baraisa, when the pasuk says: "אשר תשטה אשה תחת אישה" – When a woman shall stray while under her husband, the juxtaposition teaches to compare a man to a woman and a woman to a man in the laws of sotah. כשם שאם הוא סומא לא היה משקה – Just as if he (the husband) is blind, he would not cause her to drink, because the pasuk describes her activities as “hidden from her husband’s eyes,” implying sight, כך היא אם היתה סומא לא היתה שותה – so too if she is blind, she does not drink. כשם שחיגרת וגידמת לא היתה שותה – Just as if she is lame or missing hands, she would not drink (because the sotah is described as “standing” before Hashem and waving the minchah on her “palms”), so too if he is lame or missing hands, he does not cause her to drink. כשם שאילמת לא היתה שותה – Just as if she is mute, she does not drink, because she must answer “Amen” to the oaths, so too if he is mute, he does not cause her to drink.
- כשם שאסורה לבעל כך אסורה לבועל
In the first Mishnah of the fifth Perek, Rebbe Akiva says: כשם שאסורה לבעל כך אסורה לבועל – Just as she is prohibited to the husband, so too she is prohibited to the adulterer through the adultery, even after her husband’s death or divorce. He darshens it from the extra “vav” in "ונטמאה". Rebbi offers a different source: שני פעמים האמורים בפרשה נטמאה ונטמאה – Twice in the portion it is said, “she is defiled,” “she is defiled,” אחד לבעל ואחד לבועל – one teaching she is prohibited to the husband, and one teaching she is prohibited to the adulterer. The Mishnah continues with several other derashos which were made on the day Rebbe Elazar ben Azaryah was installed as nasi.
