1)

(a)Everyone agrees that, when a husband, who suspects his wife of infidelity, warns her not to seclude herself with another man, he must do so in front of two witnesses. It is an obligation to do so - and he is not permitted to overlook his wife's actions (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

(b)According to Rebbi Eliezer, she becomes a Sotah even if one witness testifies that she ignored her husband's warning - even if that witness is the husband himself (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

(c)Rebbi Yehoshua maintains - that she only becomes a Sotah on the testimony of two witnesses (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

2)

(a)The ramifications of the witnesses' testimony are that - intimacy with her husband is forbidden and that she becomes obligated to drink the 'Mei Sotah'.

(b)If the husband is a Kohen - she becomes forbidden to eat T'rumah (See Tos. Yom-Tov, end of Mishnah 2).

(c)The Halachah is - like Rebbi Yehoshua.

3)

(a)The Gemara rules that nowadays (See Tos. Yom-Tov), a man should not issue his wife with a warning not to seclude herself with another man, based on the opinion of Rebbi Yossi b'Rebbi Yehudah, who says that - the warning does not require two witnesses ...

(b)... in which case, if, following her husband's warning a woman secludes herself with the man concerned, (even if nobody else is present) she becomes forbidden to be intimate with her husband until she drinks the water, which is not possible nowadays.

4)

(a)If a man warns his wife not to talk with Ish P'loni and she does - she is not a Sotah ...

(b)... even if she then secluded herself with him.

(c)She will only become a Sotah - if her husband warns her not to seclude herself with the man in question and she does.

(d)And she only becomes a Sotah if they are secluded for the duration of Shi'ur Tum'ah - the time it takes to roast a chicken's egg and eat it.

5)

(a)If her husband subsequently dies before he had a chance to make her drink the 'holy water' - she performs Chalitzah but not Yibum.

(b)We learn this from the Pasuk in Ki Seitzei "Veyatz'ah Vahaysah le'Ish Acher" - which implies "le'Ish Acher", 've'Lo le'Yavam'.

(c)She nevertheless requires Chalitzah - just as she would have required a Get (before becoming permitted to marry another man) had her husband still been alive.

6)

(a)The Mishnah rules that A woman who admits that she is Tamei, if witnesses testify to that effect and a Sotah who declares that she will not drink the water - are forbidden to eat T'rumah forever ...

(b)... whereas a regular Sotah who drank the water - is permitted to eat T'rumah.

(c)If, despite the fact that witnesses testified that she was guilty, the Sotah drank the water and nothing happened to her, she remains forbidden to eat T'rumah - because once witnesses declare her guilty, the water will no longer take effect on her.

(d)We learn this from the Pasuk "Venist'rah ve'Hi Nitma'ah, ve'Eid Ein bah" - which implies that the water will only take effect if nobody knows about her guilt, but not if there is somebody who does ...

(e)... even if the witnesses (See Tos. Yom-Tov) are overseas and did not manage to return in time to testify.

7)

(a)The Tana discusses a case where the husband refuses to make his wife drink the Mei Sotah or if he is intimate with her on the way to the Beis-ha'Mikdash - in which case the water will not effect her either.

(b)Consequently - she too is forbidden to eat T'rumah forever.

(c)We learn from the Pasuk (in connection with the Sotah drinking the water) "ve'Nikah ha'Ish me'Avon" that - the water will only take effect if the husband himself is not guilty of sinning.

8)

(a)According to the Tana Kama, Beis-Din send two Talmidei-Chachamim - who know how to warn him, to ensure that they are not intimate on the way.

(b)Rebbi Yehudah maintains that we trust the husband - Kal-va'Chomer from Nidah.

(c)The Chachamim counter this - by differentiating between the more stringent sin of Nidah and the lighter sin of being intimate with a Sotah.

(d)The Halachah is - like the Chachamim.

9)

(a)Once in Yerushalayim, the husband takes his (Sotah) wife - to the Beis-Din ha'Gadol.

(b)We learn this from the Gezeirah-Shavah "es Kol ha'Torah ha'Zos" (Naso) "al-Pi ha'Torah asher Yorucha" (Parshas Shoftim) - written in connection with a Zakein Mamrei.

(c)The Mishnah compares the warning that the Sanhedrin issue her - to the warning that one issues to a defendant who is facing the death-penalty (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

(d)The objective of the warning is - to induce her to confess that she sinned.

10)

(a)The warning begins with the mention of wine, jest, youth and neighbors - all of which lead a person to sin

(b)They implore her to confess - so as to prevent the Name of Hash-m from being erased in the water.

(c)And they tell her things that she and her paternal family are unworthy to hear (See Tiferes Yisrael) - such as how the Tzadikim Yehudah and Reuven confessed to their respective sins (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

11)

(a)The Mishnah rules that a Sotah who confesses that she is guilty - must write a receipt declaring that she has received her Kesubah ...

(b)... after which - her husband gives her a Get (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

(c)If however, she insists that she is innocent - they take her to the gate known as Sha'ar Nikanor, at the eastern entrance to the Azarah (See Tos. Yom-Tov) ...

(d)... because that is where Sotos were given the Mei Sotah to drink ...

(e)... since it is considered "lifnei Hash-m" (where the Torah requires the Sotah to stand).

12)

(a)Besides a woman who has given birth and a Metzora - a Zav and a Zavah stand there too (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

(b)They all comprise - the group of Mechusrei Kaparah ...

(c)... and they stand there - in order to stand by the respective Korbanos that they are about to bring.

(d)It is called 'Sha'ar Nikanor' on account of the man who donated the gates. He brought them from Alexandria with great Mesiras Nefesh, accompanied by miracles on the way.

13)

(a)The Kohen then - grabs hold of the Sorah's clothes at the neck and pulls them down until her breasts are exposed ...

(b).. too bad if he tears them in the process.

(c)Besides larger tears that 'Nikr'u, 'Nifr'mu' might also mean - a horizontal tear, as opposed to 'K'ri'ah', which is a vertical one.

(d)With regard to the Pasuk in Naso "u'Para es Rosh ha'Ishah", we learn from ...

1. ... "u'Para es (Rosh) ha'Ishah" that - the Kohen is obligated to uncover part of the Sotah's body.

2. ... " u'Para es Rosh" that - he must also uncover her hair.

14)

(a)Rebbi Yehudah qualifies the previous rulings - by restricting them to where her breasts and her hair are not particularly beautiful, but not otherwise (See Tos. Yom-Tov) ...

(b)... in case she turns out to be innocent and the young Kohanim (See Tos. Yom-Tov) will subsequently be tempted to harass her (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

(c)The Halachah is - like the Tana Kama.

15)

(a)The Mishnah requires changing the clothes of a Sotah who is wearing white clothes to black ones ...

(b)... whereas if the black clothes she is wearing look particularly nice on her, then she should change into white ones.

(c)The Tana now discusses a Sotah who is wearing Katla'yos, Nezamim and Taba'os' (rings that are worn on the fingers) ...

1. ... 'Katlayos' - are bracelets that a woman wears tightly around the neck, to accentuate the shape of her breasts, and ...

2. ... 'Nezamim' - are nose or ear rings.

(d)The Mishnah sees fit to mention this - because otherwise, we would have thought that she should be allowed to wear them, since a woman whose clothes have been disheveled looks ridiculous wearing ornaments (like a naked person wearing shoes).

16)

(a)Following that, the Kohen brings an Egyptian rope - which he uses to tie her clothes back on her upper body (to avoid them falling down to the ground) ...

(b)... specifically an Egyptian one - because she behaved like the Egyptians who were notorious for their immoral behavior (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

(c)If all men are invited to come and see the Sotah in disgrace (based on the Pasuk in Yechezkel "Venivasru Kol ha'Nashim"), the women - are obligated to do so ...

(d)... so that they will not take their cue from her (as the Pasuk concludes).

(e)Her male and female slaves are precluded from this ruling - since she feels secure in their company and will feel good (rather than embarrassed, by their presence (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

17)

(a)The Mishnah learns from the fact that, because the Sotah adorned herself for the adulterer, Hash-m makes her look ugly that - Hash-m punishes 'Midah ke'Neged Midah'.

(b)The Tana is referring - to the demeaning procedure that she must undergo at the Sha'ar Nikanor, as we just learned.

(c)By the same token, Hash-m ordered, based on the fact that she ...

1. ... revealed herself to the adulterer that - the Kohen uncovers her hair and tears her clothes.

2. ... sinned first with her thighs and then with her stomach that - the water affects first her thighs, then her stomach.

(d)And when he concludes that the remainder of her body does not escape, he is referring - to the fact that her entire body is subsequently affected by the water, after her thighs and her stomach (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

18)

(a)We find 'Midah ke'Neged Midah' in connection with ...

1. ... Shimshon - whose eyes were poked out, because he went after his eyes (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

2. ... Avshalom - who was left suspending by his hair (See Tos. Yom-Tov), because he boasted about his hair (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

(b)And because the latter was intimate with his father's ten concubines - he was pierced by ten spears ...

(c)... at the hands of (David ha'Melech's lieutenant) Yo'av 's ten armor-bearers).

19)

(a)The Mishnah (citing the Pasuk in Shmuel) refers to three hearts that Avshalom stole - with reference to the trick that he played in order to gain a large following (in his rebellion against his father).

(b)He asked his father to write him a note authorizing him to appoint any two men to accompany him. Then, having obtained his father's signature, he showed the note to two people at a time, all of them heads of Sanhedrin, until he had an impressive following of two hundred accompanying him wherever he went.

(c)The three hearts that he stole were - those of his father David, the Beis-Din and Yisrael (who were taken in by his retinue).

(d)Hash-m subsequently applied 'Midah ke'Neged Midah' - when they killed him by shooting three darts into his heart.

20)

(a)The Mishnah states that - 'Midah ke'Neged Midah' applies to reward as well (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

(b)In fact - it applies even more extensively there, based on the principle 'Midah Tovah Merubah mi'Midas Pur'anus (the measure of good always exceeds the measure of bad)!'

(c)'Midah ke'Neged Midah' applied to Miriam - when the whole of Yisrael waited for her for seven days when she became a Metzora - because she waited a short while for Moshe when their mother hid him among the bull-rushes in the River Nile.

21)

(a)Yosef's reward for personally seeing to his father Ya'akov's burial was - that Moshe Rabeinu personally looked after his coffin in the desert.

(b)Yosef was greater than his brothers - in that he was the viceroy of Egypt ...

(c)... and Moshe who in turn, was the greatest man in Yisrael - also bore the title 'king'.

22)

(a)Moshe's reward for personally looking after the bones of Yosef was that - when he died, Hash-m personally saw to his burial (See Tos. Yom-Tov).

(b)Based on a Pasuk in Yeshayah, the Tana concludes that - Hash-m is involved in the burial of all Tzadikim (See Tiferes Yisrael).