A betrothed woman and a <i>Shomeret Yavam</i> [widow of childless man whose brother has yet to either marry her or release her from the residual marital bond] do not drink [the bitter waters] and they do not take their <i>Ketubah</i> [monetary settlement payable to a married woman upon divorce or the death of her husband], as it says, "that the woman goes astray while married to her husband," (Numbers 5:29) which excludes a betrothed woman or a <i>Shomeret Yabam</i>. A widow [married] to a high priest, a divorcée or a <i>Chalutzah</i> [widow of childless man whose brother has released her from the residual marital bond] [married] to a common priest, a <i>Mamzeret</i> [offspring of an illegitimate union between a Jewish woman and man] or a <i>Netinah</i> [member of a caste of Temple servants, historically descended from the Gibeonites] [married] to an Israelite, or a daughter of an Israelite [married] to a <i>Mamzer</i> or a <i>Netin</i>--they do not drink [the bitter waters] and don't take their <i>Ketubah</i>.
Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
ארוסה ושומרת יבם – a betrothed woman whose betrothed is jealous of her and the childless brother’s widow awaiting levirate marriage whose levir is jealous of her.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sotah
Introduction
Our mishnah deals with situations in which the woman, suspected of committing adultery, does not have the opportunity to drink the bitter waters, but rather she must be divorced and does not receive her ketubah.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sotah
A betrothed woman and a shomeret yavam do not drink [the bitter waters] and do not receive their ketubah, as it is said, “When a wife, being under her husband, goes astray” (Numbers 5:29), this excludes a betrothed woman and a shomeret yavam. The Torah uses the word “wife” (alternatively translated as woman) in summarizing the laws of the Sotah. From here the rabbis deduce that she must have the status of full wife in order to drink the bitter waters. A betrothed woman does not have such a status and hence, even if her fiancé forbids her from being secluded with a certain man and afterwards she is secluded with him, she does not undergo the sotah ordeal. Similarly, a “shomeret yavam”, a woman whose husband died childless and is waiting for either levirate marriage (yibbum) or the release from levirate marriage (halitzah), does not drink the bitter waters. This refers to a case where the yavam, her brother-in-law, warned her not to be secluded with a certain man. Both of these women do lose their ketubah, since they were secluded after being warned; however, neither is allowed to undergo the sotah ordeal.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
ולא נוטלות כתובה – for she caused to make herself prohibited upon him for she had retired under suspicious circumstances after a warning given to the suspected wife–manifestation of jealousy that from this manifestation of jealousy and the prohibition, one does not do less, as it is written (Numbers 5:12): “Speak to the Israelite people, etc.” which includes the betrothed woman and the childless brother’s widow awaiting levirate marriage.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sotah
A widow who had married a high priest, a divorced woman or a halutzah who had married an ordinary priest, a mamzeret or a netinah who had married an Israelite, and the daughter of an Israelite who had married a mamzer or a natin do not drink [the bitter waters] and do not receive their ketubah. This section is also based on the fact that the Torah uses the word “wife”. Here “wife” excludes a woman who was prohibited from being her husband’s wife. The mishnah lists all relations which are prohibited and yet nevertheless the marriage is legally valid (the marriage would not be valid in cases of incest). This includes the widow who may not marry the high priest, and the divorcee and halutzah (woman who had previously been released from levirate marriage) who may not marry a normal priest. With regard to Israelites it includes the prohibition of marrying a mamzer (one born of forbidden sexual union) and natin (descendent of Temple slaves). We have already encountered these categories in various places in Yevamoth and Ketuboth. We should note that according to the Rambam, the waters don’t work in these cases because the husband married a woman forbidden to him. The waters work only when the husband is also free from having committed any transgressions.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
תחת אישה – The verse states that she sits underneath him.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
נתינה – from the Gibeonites and they are prohibited from entering the congregation [of the Lord].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
לא שותות – this portion was not stated other than when it was appropriate to fulfill it, as it is written (Numbers 5:12): “if any man’s wife has gone astray.” The Biblical verse speaks of what is appropriate to marriage, except for a widow [married] with a High Priest [or a divorcee or a woman released from a levirate marriage by Halitzah with a regular Kohen,] etc.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
ולא נוטלות כתובה – even though the rest of the widows with a Kohen Gadol–High Priest collect their Ketubot, as we state in [Tractate] Ketubot [100b and Tractate Yevamot 84a]. This woman does not have her Ketubah because her retiring under suspicious circumstances caused this to her.
