Sotah 32 - April 30, 9 Iyar

Today's daf is sponsored by Malka Svei in loving memory of her grandmother, Rachel Leah Bat R’ David. "She learned and taught Torah throughout her life. She loved and valued Torah above all else, and raised her children and grandchildren to do the same." Today's daf is sponsored by Lynn Kaye, Joe Nadis & Maya Zanger-Nadis in loving memory of Ted Kurtz on his shloshim. "A WWII veteran and savvy businessman, Uncle Ted stayed connected to his Hungarian Satmar roots. Although Ted never had children of his own, he took care to be present in our lives, and put several of us through college. Through him, we learned the importance of taking care of family. May his neshama have an aliyah." The Hadran Zoom family sponsors today's daf for a refuah shleima for Rabbi Hayim Herring, Harav Hayim Ben Zippora Riva, husband of their fellow daf learner and friend Terri Krivosha. "Wishing you renewed strength and a full recovery." In order to resolve the difficulty with Rabbi Chiya's opinion from the last two cases in the Mishna, the Gemara establishes that the Mishna is referring to cases where one or both of the sets are witnesses are disqualified and the rulings follow rabbi Nechemia who holds that in cases where disqualified witnesses are accepted, we follow the group with the larger number of witnesses. There are two different versions of Rabbi Nechemia's position. The seventh chapter begins with a list of cases where the law obligates a recitation of a text - which can be said in a language other than Hebrew and which can be said only in Hebrew? The words of the kohen to the sotah, confession of tithes, shema, tefilla (amida), grace after meals, an oath of testimony and an oath regarding a deposit - can all be said in any language (that one understands). The recitation of the bikkurim, chalitza, the blessings and the curses recited upon entry into Israel, the blessing of the kohanim, the blessing of the kohen gadol on Yom Kippur, the Torah reading of the king at hakhel, and the recitation at an egla arufa ceremony all need to be recited in Hebrew. The Mishna brings a source for a few of these cases, explaining why they need to be said in Hebrew. They then explain in details how the blessings and curses ceremony was performed. The Gemara begins by explaining how we know that sotah ceremony can be done in any language. What exactly does the kohen explain to the woman and why? From where do we derive that the confession of the tithes can be done in any language? We learn from the tithes ceremony that one should recite praise about oneself quietly and from the recitation of the bikkurim, we learn that things that are degrading, we say loudly. If this is true, we say prayer in a quiet voice so as not to embarrass ourselves when we spell out our sins! To resolve this, they correct the previous statement (what we recite loudly) to be referring to our pain, rather than something degrading, so that people will hear and pray for mercy. Regarding shema, there is a tannaitic debate about whether it should be recited in Hebrew only or not. What is the proof in the verses for each position?