Rabbi Albert Setton

The Sotah chapter in the Torah represents a fascinating episode in Chazal actively shaping a specific concept in the Torah according to specific ideological lines. A cursory reading in the Torah would lead one to believe that the Sotah concept exists solely to punish a faithless wife. The pessukim do not focus on the husband or to the shalom bayit that can be achieved through an innocent verdict. Indeed, even the man with whom the wife has sinned is not given any mention in the text. This reinforces the stereotype of males attempting to punish a woman for promiscuity while accepting that this is the norm and ‘forgivable’ for men.

A study of the words of our sages on this chapter quickly dispels this notion. Indeed the statements of Chazal are very clearly rebalancing the situation. Firstly, they state that the test of the adulterous woman will not be effective if the husband himself has not been faithful. They, therefore, establish that the concept of fidelity in marriage is one which applies equally to both men and women. They additionally state that the male adulterer will die simultaneously with the adulteress while she drinks the water, highlighting that adultery is not a ‘woman’ sin, but a sin of two faithless people regardless of gender. They further state that the intended purpose of the Sotah waters is not for punishment; rather it serves to foster reconciliation between an innocent wife and her suspecting husband. The rabbis even fault the husband for being suspicious of his wife in the first place!

This rabbinic framing of the Sotah chapter serves to illustrate the values of Judaism. Rather than letting this portion of Torah be misinterpreted by bigots and sexists, the Rabbis brilliantly highlight their belief in mutual respect and responsibilities between genders. Unfortunately, we live in an age in which we accept behavior between genders that completely reduces the level of appropriate respect mandated by the Torah. We need to dedicate ourselves to the study of respect between the genders and what proper behavior should look like according to our Torah. The solutions to these modern day problems are already latent in the words of Chazal- they just await our discovery of them.