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This week’s reading contains the strange and complicated commandment of the Sota.
A Sota is a woman who was suspected and warned by her husband of adultery but nevertheless ignores the warning and continues to act suspiciously. Therefore she is brought to the Holy Temple and made to drink specially prepared water which, if she is innocent brings blessing and if not, causes her death.
At first glance all this seems a bit out of place in the holy Torah.
Why couldn’t G-d just make it that if a man suspects his wife, he takes her to a holy man or Priest who reveals the truth?
Also, we must remember that the Torah and its teachings are eternal and relevant to us today and today there is no Holy Temple and these laws of Sota are no longer in practice, what is the Torah teaching us?

To understand this here are two stories.

The courtroom was packed. The defendant was charged with first degree murder, and his attorney, one of the best in the country, was at the height of his oration to the jury and each time he paused could hear a pin drop. Everyone was hypnotized by his eloquence and razor-sharp logic.
“We are all shocked by murder. And the murderer must be punished to the full extent of the law. But … if you are not ONE HUNDRED percent sure that Joe Sanders has committed this heinous crime you cannot, you must not, you dare not take his life! I want to stress that the life of a human being. A human being just like yourselves, like your own sons and daughters is in danger here. Can we take his life on circumstantial evidence? Bloodstains? Witnesses that think they heard shots?
“Why, you don’t even know for sure that a murder has been committed. The prosecution has yet to find a weapon or even a body! It appears my client is guilty. APPEARS!!! But we cannot execute on appearances!!! Only on CERTANTY!!! Is there no doubt in your minds? Well, honorable jury members, if so… I want show you how near you came to making a tragic mistake!!”
The lawyer pointed dramatically to the huge closed entrance door to the courtroom and shouted.
“In just a few seconds the supposed victim, the man you say has been murdered will come THROUGH THAT DOOR!! The man you thought has been murdered ….. IS ALIVE.
A gasp went up in the courthouse, everyone suddenly turned to look. All eyes were glued to the door. Any second the handle would turn. The room was filled with electricity.
Ten seconds passed, twenty, a minute, two! Someone coughed, someone else cleared their throat, someone chuckled, the spell had been broken … no one was coming through that door.
The lawyer had made a fool of himself!!!
But he didn’t seem to be perturbed. He waited for the noise to die down and continued. “You see? You ALL TURNED to see the victim. IN OTHER WORDS, Not ONE of YOU is even SURE that there WAS a murder at all!! Can there be a bigger doubt than THAT???
“I rest my case.”
It was a brilliant move that completely stunned the crowd while the accused just sat and smiled.
The Judge ordered the jury to leave the court and come to a verdict, but it was all too obvious what the outcome would be. And, indeed, after only fifteen minutes of deliberation they returned. The judge pounded his gavel and asked if they had reached a decision.
The foreman of the jury stood and said “Yes we have your honor.”
“And what is the verdict” asked the judge perfunctorily.
“We find the defendant…. GUILTY of murder as charged.”
The courtroom was stunned. The crowd didn’t know what was going on. The lawyer for the defense jumped to his feet held his head in his hands and screamed “How can you do this?! How can you say this??” The judge himself was speechless. Soon everyone in the spectators section was turning to the others, shrugging their shoulders and asking pointless questions; they were completely confused.
The judge began pounding his gavel yelling “Order in the Court! Order in the court!!”
The room fell still, everyone was ordered to be seated and the Judge turned to the jury foreman who remained standing, and asked.
“Is that the verdict of the jury? Guilty?”
“Yes, it is your honor.”
“Could you explain the reason for your decision in the light of what we have just seen?” The judge asked as he leaned forward peering over his high desk at the jury. “Why, you saw that all you jurors were not certain”.
The foreman cleared his throat and replied.
“Your honor, the defending attorney was right; we weren’t one hundred percent sure. And he really proved it when he made us all look at the door.
“But while everyone was looking at the door, I happened to notice that there was one person in the court that did NOT turn. The DEFENDANT!!
“That’s right your honor. We all saw it. He didn’t blink an eye. He knew that the victim was really dead and the whole thing was a trick. He was the only one in court that had no doubts!! He is certainly guilty.”

The second story I heard from Rav Mendel Futerfass, the Rosh Yeshiva of Kfar Chabad.

Some two hundred years ago a young Chassid was riding a train from one city to another in Russia when, at one of the stops, a well-dressed man, an assimilated Jew, entered and sat in the empty seat next to him. The young chassid nodded to his new neighbor and returned to the book he was reading.
After a few moments the older man asked the young chassid in Yiddish “Nu, vas learnt a Yid?” (What are you learning there?)
It wasn’t long before they were conversing about religion and needless to say the older fellow spoke condescendingly demonstrating his superior, open lifestyle.
“I am a doctor, a professor of medicine. But that does not stop me from being a benefactor to the poor. Often I do not even charge a fee if I see the patient cannot pay.”
“Yes, me too.” Said the Chassid.
“Ahh yes, I’m certain that you also do charitable acts but remember that I could charge large sums and I forego the profit. In fact, often I visit the poor in their homes and treat them.”
“Yes, so do I.” replied the Chassid a second time.
The doctor was beginning to get angry. “Well, do you now!” He said sarcastically. “Well I’ll have you know that often I even buy medicine for the indigent and even provide them with food, despite the fact that there are few experts in the field of medicine like me,”
“Yes, me too.” Answered the Chassid a third time.
“What, do you mean to tell me that you are a doctor?” The professor asked mockingly.
“No no!” Replied the young man. “I mean that I too only see my good qualities and overlook my own faults.”

That is the lesson of the Sota.

The Sota is a married woman that arouses suspicion. Her husband is unsure of her loyalty and she seems to be unsure of herself. She broadcasts infidelity.

That ‘woman’ is likened to the Jewish people.

King Solomon states in his holy masterpiece “The Song of Songs’ that when G-d gave the Torah at Sinai He ‘married’ the Jewish people; The Jews became G-d’s ‘wife’.
And, like the Sota, the Jewish people often appear to be unfaithful, uncertain and selfish (as in our two stories). But in fact, deep down every Jew is CERTAIN that G-d exists and EVERY Jew deeply LOVES and is faithful to Gd.
Therefore, all the processes the Sota must undergo are hinting at G-d testing the Jewish people to arouse the real truth; that in fact Jews are innocent. Deep down they can never leave G-d and G-d will never divorce them as it says in Isaiah 42:8 “My glory I will not give to another.”
In other words, a Jew can NEVER really be unfaithful to G-d. This is hinted at in the Talmud (Sota 3a) “A Sota will not sin unless she is possessed by a spirit of craziness (Ruach Shtut). The only thing that will bring a Jew (wife of G_d)  to sin is temporary insanity.
So the Sota process represents the process of repentance and humility. Just as they were purified by counting the forty-nine days of the Omer after leaving Egypt in order to receive the Torah in purity. (Many have the custom of learning the 49 pages of Tractate SOTA from Pesach to Shavuot for this reason).

This is the job of Moshiach to arouse this eternal connection and gather the Jews from all corners of the world (Deut. 30:3-5) and, as the Torah promises (here 5:26) they will be cleaned and bring healthy offspring.

This, the Lubavitcher Rebbe says will happen at any moment. We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish hopes, prayers and suffering.   Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can make it happen with …

Moshiach NOW!!

Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel

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