Sota - The Steinsaltz Talmud T20 (color), Biblieurope editions

The Steinsaltz Talmud T20

Sota

Translated paragraph by paragraph
Commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz

Drahi Edition - Color

Biblieurope Editions

The new edition of the Steinsaltz Talmud in French aims, like the previous one, to give everyone, regardless of their level, access to the Talmudic text – originally written without punctuation or vowels, in a concise style, in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic, a language little known to most readers.

In the second half of the ^20th century, Rabbi Steinsaltz, of blessed memory, pioneered the work of publishing a punctuated and vocalized edition in Hebrew, and later in other languages. This edition presents the correspondence of each word of the Talmud in bold, with explanations added in regular type, essential for understanding each sentence and following the Gemara step by step.

In this edition, the text of the Talmud is divided into paragraphs, translated as they appear. It includes numerous studies and halakha taken from the Steinsaltz edition in Hebrew, summarizing the main commentaries and the conclusions of the decisors on each topic addressed. It is enriched new illustrations.

At the end of each book, it includes the original text of the treatise according to the classical Vilna edition, with the commentary of Rashi – which, here, is punctuated and vocalized – and that of the Tosafot, also punctuated.

We hope that this publication will achieve the goal that Rav Steinsaltz zal sought throughout his life: to enable every Jew to know and appreciate his ancestral heritage in order to strengthen the love of the Torah among the people.

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Sota

Bound to her husband by sacred ties, a woman becomes forbidden to him if she is suspected of adultery, having secluded herself, despite his warning—attested to by two witnesses—with a presumed lover. But instead of divorcing her for misconduct (see Gittin 90a), her husband can subject her to a test proving her guilt or innocence, which will allow her to resume a harmonious married life (Shabbat 116a). Evoking in great detail the "bestial" act imputed to the accused, the procedure followed leads, in a truly exceptional way, to a heavenly verdict: if the accused is guilty, she dies after drinking "the bitter waters"—water mixed with a little earth taken from the Temple floor, in which a scroll bearing biblical imprecations against adultery has been erased. Her lover suffers the same fate, from a distance. To avoid the erasure of the Names of God contained in this passage and the need for a miracle, the court strives to obtain a confession from the accused woman through persuasion and harassment. This is especially important since the ordeal of the bitter waters could be compromised by the husband's misconduct or by some merit of the wife that might justify postponing or even canceling her punishment.

Beyond purely legal questions, the case of the woman suspected of adultery, her ordeal, and her eventual punishment prompts reflection on the cause and consequences of sin—and, in particular, on the sins of great biblical figures—as well as on the theological problem of Retribution. Hence the abundance of allegorical teachings in this treatise, which concludes with a description of the spiritual decline of the people of Israel, who gradually lost their claims to glory. This is why, shortly before the destruction of the Temple, the sotah procedure was abolished; the woman suspected of adultery ipso facto lost her right to the ketubah, the severance payment.

Biblieurope Editions