Sota (mixed natractate)
Sota / סוטה is a treatise from the Mishnah in the order Naschim סֵדֶר נָשִׁים (women) .
Position in the seder
The Sota tract is in the usual printed editions the fifth tract of the order between Nasir and Gittin . In the important Mischnah manuscripts Kaufmann and Parma, however, the tract is in sixth, penultimate position. The different order is explained by the same number of chapters in the tracts. However, the arrangement is already discussed in the Babylonian Talmud (bSota 2a). Since the treatise Sota v. a. refers to Num 5 EU and Nasir to Num 6 EU , the ranking in the Mishnah is based on the ranking of the biblical chapters.
Biblical reference and historical development
Numbers 5 gives provisions in the event that a man suspects his wife of adultery. The most important part of the investigation is an ordal with the so-called "curse water" and a cursing ceremony in front of the priest. With the help of this regulation, the act of mere suspicion of adultery was withdrawn from the man's arbitrariness. The biblical provisions are explained and expanded in the treatise, but in some cases also changed and made more difficult by new reservations. So the man has to issue a warning to the woman after his suspicion that she is not allowed to meet with certain (male) people. Only if the woman violates this prohibition can the examination ceremony be initiated. If this occurs, the woman is withdrawn from the man for marital intercourse. Likewise, should she make a confession, he cannot take her back as a woman. None of these possibilities are provided for in the biblical text.
Since the fulfillment of the ceremony was linked to the existence of the temple , the provisions lost their real meaning, but were discussed further for the future temple. As the tract itself notes (Sota IX, 9), the legal institution of the Sota was abolished under Jochanan ben Sakkai , but on the grounds that adultery was rampant. The ceremony itself should only be carried out in cases of doubt.
Surname
The name סוטה is an active feminine participle, derived from the root שטה. However, unlike in the Biblical Hebrew, Samech and Sin are no longer differentiated in the mixed Hebrew and there is a tendency to write the ś sound with Samech. The root roughly means "deviate".
content
The first chapter deals with the course of the trial from the warning to a possible confession. The creation of the cursed water and the cursed text is described in Chapter 2. The third chapter is devoted to the progress of the ceremony after drinking the cursed water and examines the differences between women of priests and lay people. Again and again the possibility of a confession is inserted or the possible mitigating effect of good deeds on the outcome of the trial is discussed. In the fourth chapter, too, the group of women who could be affected by the lawsuit is further restricted, depending on their social situation. The fifth chapter deviates from the main theme in that only the first Mishnah brings a decision to the Sota, but the following Mishnahot are a collection of decisions made "on that day", i.e. H. when Rabban Gamaliel II was deposed as head of the teaching house. They are not linked to one another in terms of content, but solely through this keyword. The question of the witnesses is dealt with in the sixth chapter. The seventh chapter first defines the language in which the warning to the Sota is to be made. This is followed by - again using key words - considerations on further (biblical) texts that can be recited in any language so that everyone can understand them. The last two chapters 8 and 9 now deal with individual topics from chapter 7: biblical martial law according to Dtn 20 EU (chapter 8) and the breaking of the neck of a calf as a victim when a corpse is found according to Dtn 21 EU (chapter 9). As usual, the treatise ends with an aggadic section. The theme in Sota is the end of certain regulations or traditions with the death of a famous scholar or the destruction of the temple.
Tosefta and Talmud
There is a parallel to the treatise in the Tosefta and a Gemara in both Talmudim , which provide additional historical information.
literature
- Hans Bietenhard: Sota (those suspected of adultery). Giessen 1956.
- Michael Krupp : The Mishnah: Sota (The Adultery Suspect). Jerusalem 2005. ISBN 965-7221-25-0