Comentário sobre Sotá 2:5
עַל מַה הִיא אוֹמֶרֶת אָמֵן אָמֵן. אָמֵן עַל הָאָלָה, אָמֵן עַל הַשְּׁבוּעָה. אָמֵן מֵאִישׁ זֶה, אָמֵן מֵאִישׁ אַחֵר. אָמֵן שֶׁלֹּא שָׂטִיתִי אֲרוּסָה וּנְשׂוּאָה וְשׁוֹמֶרֶת יָבָם וּכְנוּסָה, אָמֵן שֶׁלֹּא נִטְמֵאתִי. וְאִם נִטְמֵאתִי, יָבֹאוּ בִי. רַבִּי מֵאִיר אוֹמֵר, אָמֵן שֶׁלֹּא נִטְמֵאתִי, אָמֵן שֶׁלֹּא אֶטָּמֵא:
A que ela responde 'Amém Amém'? Amém para a maldição, Amém para o juramento. Amém em relação a este homem, Amém em relação a outro homem. Amém: eu não cometeu adultério enquanto estava noivo, ou casado, ou enquanto esperava o casamento levirato, ou depois de ser levado [para sua casa]. Amém que eu não fiquei impuro. E se eu ficar impuro, que [as maldições] estejam sobre mim. R. Meir disse: Amém que eu não me tornei impuro, Amém que eu não me tornei impuro.
Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
אמן שלא שטיתי ארוסה ונשואה – through the rule permitting the court to insert in an oath an affirmation to which the person concerned could not have been compelled directly, he places the burden upon her unchastity while betrothed and even though he did not have regarding him warnings of jealousy (given to the suspected wife) and a married woman’s retirement with a man under suspicious circumstances. And from here, this insertion of an oath to which a person could not have been compelled to take directly is from the Torah.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sotah
Introduction
After the curses are recited, the woman responds “Amen, amen”. “Amen” is a Biblical expression of agreement. Due to it frequent use in prayer, it is to this day one of the most familiar Hebrew words (my mother says that when pregnant with me I used to kick when my father said “amen”☺).
Our mishnah deals with the repetition of the word “amen”. Why does she say the same word twice? To what exactly is she responding “Amen, amen”? Note that the mishnah accepts a multiplicity of answers to these questions, for they do not necessarily contradict each other.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
שומרת יבם וכנוסה – if she was his sister-in-law (i.e., the widow of his brother who died without issue) and he brought her into a levirate marriage and he was jealous of her and she retired with a man under suspicious circumstances, he inserts a claim of ritual impurity which she could not have been compelled to take directly that she had become defiled while she was awaiting levirate marriage . And our Mishnah is according to Rabbi Akiva who said that a woman awaiting levirate marriage is unchastity–lewdness, but it is not the Halakha but rather a woman awaiting levirate marriage who ran about as a prostitute is permitted to the levir. Therefore, he does not make this condition upon her if she was unchaste as a woman awaiting levirate marriage.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sotah
To what does she respond “Amen, amen”?
“Amen” over the curse and “amen” over the oath; Verse 19 contains an oath to which she must agree. The oath is that she is not guilty of the sin of adultery. Verse 21 uses the word “alah”, a curse that if she has committed adultery the following things shall happen to her. According to the first interpretation of “amen, amen” in our mishnah, the first “amen” is to the curse and the second “amen” is to the oath.
“Amen” over the curse and “amen” over the oath; Verse 19 contains an oath to which she must agree. The oath is that she is not guilty of the sin of adultery. Verse 21 uses the word “alah”, a curse that if she has committed adultery the following things shall happen to her. According to the first interpretation of “amen, amen” in our mishnah, the first “amen” is to the curse and the second “amen” is to the oath.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
אמן שלא נטמאתי וכו' – My explanation is made for the “Amen” on the imprecation, “Amen” on the oath, as we taught above (in this Mishnah). And this is what it said: “Amen” that I did not become ritually impure – that is the “Amen” on the oath that the Kohen imposed upon her: “I impose upon you the oath that you did not become ritually impure.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sotah
“Amen” with respect to this man and “amen” with respect to any other man. Although the warning she received not to seclude herself, had been specific to a certain man, i.e. “don’t seclude yourself with so-and-so” (see chapter one, mishnah one), our mishnah teaches that when she drinks the water, it tests her for adultery with others as well.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
ואם נטמאתי יבואו בי – and if I become I became defiled, it should come upon me,” meaning the acceptance of the imprecation that the Kohen related to her and if you were ritually defiled, all of these curses will come upon you.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sotah
“Amen” that I did not go astray as a betrothed girl or married woman or a shomeret yavam or a woman taken into [her yavam’s] house. She must affirm that she did not commit adultery at any point in the marriage. In a regular marriage this means both during betrothal and after marriage. In a levirate marriage this means from the time that her husband died while she was waiting for her brother-in-law to marry her (this is the “shomeret yavam”, for more info see the intro to Yevamoth), or after she had entered her yavam’s (her brother-in-law’s) house as his levirate wife.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sotah
אמן שלא אטמא – that if you become ritually impure afterwards, the water will contest her, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sotah
“Amen” that I have not been defiled and if I have, may [these curses] come upon me. This is a different type of interpretation of the words “amen, amen”. The first “amen” is her affirmation that she did not commit adultery; the second “amen” is her acceptance of the curses that will be visited upon her. Some commentators say that this section is an expansion of the first section.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sotah
Rabbi Meir says: “Amen” that I have not been defiled and the “amen” that I will not become defiled in the future. Rabbi Meir believes that the waters are effective even for future adultery. At this point she affirms that she has not committed adultery in the past and that should she do so in the future, the waters will bring their curse upon her at that later time.
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