Sota 24: The Differences Between Men and Women/ Kohanim and Bnot Kohanim

We continue with the Mishna that we began in daf 23.  It teaches that meal-offerings are burned after they have been sanctified in a service vessel in the following cases:

• a sota who finally says she is defiled and thus prohibited to her husband
• a sota whose witnesses now appear and claim that she was defiled
• a sota who refuses to drink the bitter waters;
• a sota whose husband changes his mind and does not want her to drink
• a sota who admits that her husband had intercourse with her on their way to the Temple
• any woman who is married to a priest
• including an Israelite woman married to a priest

But a priest's daughter who marries an Israelite?  That meal offering is eaten.

The Mishna then poses the question: what are the differences between a priest and the daughter of a priest?

• The meal offering of a daughter of a priest is eaten
• The meal offering of a priest is burned
• The daughter of a priest can become disqualified to priests if she has intercourse with someone forbidden to her
• A priest will not become desacralized if he has intercourse with someone forbidden to him
• The daughter of a priest will become impure through contact with a corpse
• A priest will only become impure through contact with the corpse of seven close relatives
• The daughter of a priest cannot eat from the offerings of the most sacred order
• A priest may eat from those offerings

Finally, the Mishna differentiates between a man and a woman:

• A man who is a leper lets his hair grow and rends his clothing
• A woman who is a leper does not let her hair grow or rend her garments
• A man can vow that his minor son will become a nazirite
• A woman cannot vow that her minor son will become a nazirite
• A man can shave at the conclusion of his nazirut using his deceased father's designated offerings
• A woman cannot do this
• A man can betroth or sell his daughter as a maidservant while she is a minor
• A woman cannot betroth or sell her daughter as a maidservant while she is a minor
• A man is stoned while he is naked and then sometimes hanged
• A woman is stoned while wearing a robe and she is not hanged
• A man is sold to pay for his act of theft
• A woman is not sold to pay for her act of theft

The Gemara walks through these claims, explaining why each is valid.  For example, we would think that a woman should be permitted to vow that her son will be a nazirite, as Channah famously vowed.  The rabbis offer these possibilities: she made this vow intending her husband to enact it.  Alternatively, her vow was void because she made the vow before her child was conceived and a vow must refer to an existing entity to be valid.

Most of the commentary justifies these statements based on proofs that specify gender.  The Torah often uses the pronoun "he" which is taken to mean "men to the exclusion of women".   For example, "... and you shall hang him on a tree" (Deuteronomy 21:22) is interpreted as "'him' and not 'her'", thus excluding women from that positive mitzvah.

Perek IV begins with a new Mishna: If a yevama awaiting her yavam or a betrothed woman are secluded with someone about whom they have warned, they do not have to drink the bitter waters nor do they collect their ketubot.  This is because only married women are specified in the sota ritual, and neither of these women are married.  However, if they have been giving ketubot, those ketubot have been broken through their acts of seclusion, and thus their ketubot are voided.

Fascinating to see how our rabbis understand the legal differences between women and men.  A set of halachic arguments help the rabbis understand what is expected of women and what is expected of men.  Of course, these halachot will also apply to those who do not fit the categories of 'women' and 'men'.  It is telling that the words "he" or "him" can be used to include women or exclude women depending on the interpreter.