Sotah 7 - Erev Pesach - April 5, 14 Nissan

The Mishna describes the process of bringing the woman first to the court, then to the Temple. The husband must come with her to the Temple and two Torah scholars join them on the journey. Can we infer from here laws regarding seclusion between women and men? What is the role of the Torah scholars? Rabbi Yehuda thinks there is no need for Torah scholars as the husband can be trusted. On what basis does he hold this way? Is his opinion learned from logic or a verse in the Torah? When she arrives at the Temple, the court tries to encourage her to confess in order not to get to the part of the process where they need to erase the name of God. They remind her of others, Yehuda and Reuven who confessed their sins. What sins and from where do we know they confessed? They give her other, less nice clothing to wear, and remove her jewelry – all this to humiliate her. Then they bring her to the Nicanor Gate outside the azara and the kohen tears off her clothing and unties her hair. Rabbi Yehuda disagrees in a case where she is beautiful. They tie her ripped clothing over her heart with an Egyptian rope. Anyone who wants can come watch and especially women so that they learn not to behave in this manner. Only the woman’s slaves are forbidden to come as it will make her less likely to confess in their presence.