Monday, May 26, 2008

Sota 2a: Sisteh and Tishteh

The Gemara states that the reason that Sota is learned after Nazir is because one who witnesses a Sota becoming debased should abstain from wine. It is noteworthy that regarding a Sota, it is said (Bamidbar 5:12) dabeir el binei Yisroel viamarta aleihem ish ish ki sisteh ishto umaalah vo maal, speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: any man whose wife shall go astray and commit treachery against him. The word that the Torah uses for going astray is sisteh.

We find, however, in certain instances (see Sifsei Chachmaim to Devarim 1:1) that the letters taf and tes are interchangeable. Furthermore, the letters shin and sin are also interchangeable. Thus, we can interpret the verse here to read: ish ish ki tishteh ishto, any man whose wife shall drink, as it is through the drinking of wine that she committed adultery.

2 comments:

Vitaly Kozadayev said...

Beautiful.

Anonymous said...

thank you. Actually, initially it may not be beautiful, but if she is vindicated, then she will have beautiful children. IY"H more on that later.