TTfT 1186- Sotah6- Did the Sotah Water Always Work?

There are a number of cases in which the Sotah Water would not be effective. The Talmud describes, based on the verse, “The man shall be free of sin,” that the Water only works if he did not sin by having relations with her on the way to the Beis Hamikdash to administer the Sotah Water. Additionally, the Talmud describes a case of the woman having great merit (aside from this one illicit act) in which case the Water would not kill her right immediately. Instead she would waste away and eventually die, but not right away. Also, as our Talmud passage will describe, if there are witnesses in a far-away place, then the Water will not do its magic. Perhaps the reason is that Hashem says, “If it can be humanly verified, then you don’t need My miracle to let you know what happened.” This case of witnesses that have not yet come (and will mitigate the power of teh Water simply because they exist) is the subject of our session.

The Mishnah States:

These women are forbidden to eat Terumah (if the husband was a Kohein, and until now they were allowed to eat Terumah): A woman who says, “I have violated,” as well as a case where witnesses came and said that she has violated.

The Talmud comments:

Rav Sheishes taught us a lesson and proved the lesson from this Mishnah. He taught, “A woman to whom there are witnesses of her violation, who have not come, will not be verified through the Sotah Waters. As the verse describes teh case of teh Sotah Water: She was violated, and there are no witnesses.

He proved that this is the correct understanding of the topic, based on this Mishnah which says that if witnesses come she becomes forbidden to eat Terumah (i.e. the witnesses are believed). If the witnesses came before she drank, of course she becomes forbidden in Terumah, just as when she admits that she violated. The case must be that the witnesses came after she drank and did not die. We do not wonder about their truthfulness (if she indeed violated then why did she not die; must be they are false witnesses) because the Water doesn’t verify if there are witnesses, even if they are far away.