Sotah 17b — the Talmud in English

And not on ![](pamud.bmp "

exact page location")

the diftera,

which is skin that has not been fully processed, because it has not yet been processed with gallnuts.

But only on the scroll

parchment.

As it is stated, “

And the priest shall write these curses

in a book,”

that is, parchment.

And he does not write:

Neither with komos,

which is the sap of a tree, which one dissolves in water and writes with, and it is not erased by water.

Nor with kankantum

which likewise is not erased by water.

And

also

not with anything

else

that makes a mark

and is absorbed into the parchment, that is: whose mark is discernible and is not erased by water, as with komos and kankantum.

But only with ink,

whose mark is erased by water.

As it is stated: “

And the priest shall write these curses in a book

and erase

them into the water of bitterness,” thus it implies:

writing that can be erased,

and therefore he cannot write with all these.

Gemara:

The Gemara brings here several rulings concerning the scroll of a sota:

Rava said:

a.

A scroll of a sota that he wrote at night,

it is

invalid.

And we explain:

What is the reason?

For

it comes through

a gzera shava,

“Torah, Torah.”

For

it is written here

— concerning the sota —

“And the priest shall perform for her all this Torah.”

And it is written there,

in the section of the rebellious elder: “

According to the Torah that they shall teach you

the great court in Jerusalem,

and according to the judgment

that they shall tell you, you shall do.”

Just as,

just as

judgment

is adjudicated only

by day.

Likewise, the scroll of a sota

may be written only

by day.

b. If

he wrote

the scroll of the sota

backward,

from the end to the beginning, writing: “thigh and to fall, belly, to swell within your innards,” instead of: “within your innards, to swell belly and to fall thigh,” it is

invalid.

And we explain the reason: because

it is written: “

And he shall write these curses,”

and it implies

that

just as

they are written,

according to the order in which they are written in the passage.

c. If

he wrote

the scroll of the sota

before she accepted upon herself

the sota

an oath,

it is

invalid.

As it is stated

in the section of the sota:

“And he shall adjure

her, the priest,”

and afterward:

“And he shall write

these curses.”

d. If

he wrote

the scroll of the sota as one writes

a letter,

without ruling, it is

invalid.

For

“in a book”

the Merciful One said,

and it is a halakha given to Moses from Sinai that books require ruling.