What Are the Unique Laws of Sotah About? The Bitter Water Ritual for Adultery | Aleph Beta

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What Are The Unique Laws Of Sotah Really About?

What Are The Unique Laws Of Sotah Really About?

Parshat Naso introduces us to one of the oddest laws in the Torah, the laws of the Sotah – a woman suspected of adultery by her husband.

If the woman chooses to defend her honor, she is able to partake in an ancient ritual where the Kohen makes her drink tampered water – a kind of bitter water test for adultery. If she’s telling the truth, nothing happens and she’s rewarded with children. But if she’s lying, she has a traumatic reaction to the water and she’s killed.

What is the basis for this strange ritual of the Sotah and where did the procedure originate? Join Rabbi Fohrman and Rivky as they re-examine this practice and discover a unique relationship to the story of Noah earlier in the Torah — and never think about the laws of the Sotah the same way again.

Rabbi David Fohrman

Founder and Lead Scholar

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