Sotah

The Mishnah adds further humiliation to the biblical sotah ritual for a suspected adulteress. Other rabbinic texts from the same period critique this expansion, as well as the gender inequality inherent in the ritual itself.

The root ק.נ.א “jealous zeal” in the chapter on the sotah (Numbers 5) highlights a key goal of the ritual and its accompanying offering, namely, to remove the husband’s jealous zeal and allow him to remain with his wife without guilt.

A New Look at the Meaning of the Sotah and Nazir Rituals

Both Chanukah and Purim are celebrations of Jewish victory over their enemies. Nevertheless, in the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides, making use of aggada, turns these into holidays of peace.^[1]