Sota 24: Who Drinks? Who Loses Rights to Her Ketuba? Who Meets the Exact Requirements of a Sota?

Continuing from the Mishna that we began yesterday, the rabbis outline who must drink the bitter waters of the sota and who is excluded from that humiliation.  Among those who do not drink are:

• those who are intermarried (the sota ritual applies only to halachically sanctioned marriages)
• a woman who confesses
• a woman who is witnessed in seclusion with a forbidden man by at least two others
• a woman who refuses to drink

Hillel states that these women either drink the bitter waters or forfeit their ketubot.

The rabbis disagree about women who are pregnant with or nursing the children of another man.  According to halacha, these women should not have been remarried until twenty-four months has passed since their time with another man.  Thus these marriages are not sanctioned, and the sota ritual requires that a woman is legally married to her husband.  The rabbis are also concerned that the current husband will not adequately care for these children, who are not biologically his.

• an elderly woman
• an aylonit, a woman who has not sexually matured
• a woman who cannot give birth for any other reason

These women are expected to drink the bitter waters and lose the right to their ketubot as part of the sota ritual.  Their marriages are problematic; however, husbands are considered to be able to remarry and have children with other women.  Thus these women must drink the bitter waters and lost access to their ketubot.

The wife of a priest and the wife of a saris, eunuch, drink.  The priest's wife is permitted to her husband following the sota ritual if she does not become ill in the manner described.

A husband can warn his wife to avoid seclusion with a man forbidden to her by Torah law, excepting a minor and an animal.  The reasons for these exclusions are unclear.  Perhaps the rabbis understood that a minor and an animal cannot consent to seclusion and thus the sin of seclusion requires no warning.

The court can order a warning to a woman whose husband has become incapable of communication (called a 'deaf-mute') or who is in prison.  They do this to ensure that her ketuba is not paid.  Upon release from prison, the husband can take her to the Temple to drink.

The Gemara argues about the differences and similarities between a yevama and a betrothed woman.  What is their status, married or unmarried?  Do the men in their lives have the right to warn them about seclusion?  What difference does it make if they have had intercourse with that husband-to-be? What difference does it make if they have had intercourse with anyone in the past?  And does it matter when the intercourse occurred in relation to intercourse with this current man?  Are these women truly full-fledged wives, or not?

The rabbis note that a woman who undergoes the ritual of the sota with no immediate illness is permitted to her husband, even if she becomes ill later on.  As long as her thigh and stomach are not affected; her colour does not become green and her eyes do not bulge out, she is permitted to him.  

I cannot imagine that many women undergoing this ritual became ill in this manner.  Jewish women must have seemed to be incredibly righteous, and Jewish men must have seemed to be overly jealous.  The rabbi do their best to avoid the need for the ritual altogether.  However, women continue to undergo onerous, humiliating and shameful rites because of men's jealousies.  Why didn't the rabbis do away with this ritual and instead work toward mediating between the husband and wife?  Many Torah rituals were avoided to some degree or another - why so much examination of the sota ritual?