“The priest shall write these curses in a scroll, and erase it in the water of bitterness” (Numbers 5:23). “The priest shall write these curses in a scroll” – this is Moses. “In a scroll” – this is the tablet on which it was written, “Who reckons the iniquity of the fathers [against the children]” (Exodus 20:5). But, did he write them?
Was it not the Holy One blessed be He who wrote them? It is, rather, because Israel strayed, the Holy One blessed be He gave them only to Moses, just as it says: “He gave to Moses” (Exodus 31:18). That is why they are called by his name, as though he had written them. Why does it call the tablet a scroll?
It is because it was a scroll.180Miraculously, like a scroll, the tablet could be furled and unfurled. “And erase it in the water of bitterness” – it is because, due to Israel’s iniquity, he shattered the tablets, and the script flew off of them, and with that erasure of the script, Israel drank their punishment in the water. “He shall give the woman to drink the water of bitterness that causes curse, and the water that causes curse will enter her for bitterness” (Numbers 5:24).
“He shall give the woman to drink” – just as it says: “He gave the children of Israel to drink” (Exodus 32:20) – he examined them like sotot. “The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and he shall wave the meal offering before the Lord and bring it near to the altar” (Numbers 5:25). “The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy from the woman's hand” – these are the tablets that the Holy One blessed be He was sending to them; he took them [the tablets] from them, as He did not wish to give it to them.
“And he shall wave the meal offering before the Lord” – he181Moses restored the script of the tablets to its place. “And bring it near to the altar” – these are the tablets that he shattered at the foot of the mountain, just as it says: “He cast the tablets from his hands and he shattered them at the foot of the mountain” (Exodus 32:19), in the place of the altar that Moses built at the foot of the mountain to receive the Torah, just as it says: “He built an altar at the foot of the mountain” (Exodus 24:4).
“The priest shall take a handful from the meal offering, its memorial portion, and burn it upon the altar, and then he shall give the woman the water to drink” (Numbers 5:26). “The priest shall take a handful from the meal offering…” – as Moses advocated on behalf of Israel from what was written on the tablets: “Who performs kindness for the thousands [of generations], for those who love Me” (Exodus 20:6).
Moses said: The patriarchs loved You, perform kindness for them and save their descendants. That is what is written: “Remember Abraham, [Isaac, and Israel]” (Exodus 32:13). “Then he shall give [the woman]…to drink” – after he implored on their behalf and caused the countenance of fury to pass, just as it says: “Moses turned and descended from the mountain” (Exodus 32:15),182The previous verse states: “The Lord reconsidered the evil that He had spoken of doing to His people” (Exodus 32:14). then he examined them like sotot.
“He shall give her the water to drink, and it will be, if she was defiled and committed trespass against her husband, the water that causes curse will enter her for bitterness, and her belly will distend, and her thigh will fall, and the woman will become a curse among her people” (Numbers 5:27). “He shall give her the water to drink, and it will be, if she was defiled and committed trespass against her husband, [the water that causes curse] will enter [her]” – when they drank from them, all the sinners died an unnatural death.
A noblewoman asked Rabbi Eliezer: ‘Why for one sin of the calf did they die three deaths?’ He told her: ‘The only wisdom for a woman is with her spindle, as it is written: “Every woman who was wise hearted spun with her hands”’ (Exodus 35:25). Horkanus said to him: ‘In order not to answer her, you caused us a loss of three hundred kor of tithes each year.’ He said to him: ‘Let matters of Torah be burned and not transmitted to women.’
When she departed, his students said to him: ‘Rabbi, that one you rebuffed with a reed;183You did not address her question. what do you respond to us?’ Rabbi Berekhya bar Abba bar Kahana said in the name of Rabbi Elazar: Anyone for whom there were witnesses and forewarning would be executed by the court; witnesses but no forewarning, would be examined like the sota; no witnesses and no forewarning, would die in the plague.
Rav and Levi bar Sisi, both of them said: One who sacrificed, burned incense, or poured libations would be executed by the court. One who clapped, danced, or frolicked would be examined like a sota. One who rejoiced in his heart would die in the plague. “The woman will become a curse among her people” – but her people are well, as they were stricken and the rest were spared.
“And if the woman was not defiled, and she is pure, she will be absolved and will conceive offspring” (Numbers 5:28). “And if the woman was not defiled” – these were the upright people who drank. “And she is pure” – this is the tribe of Levi. “She will be absolved” – these are the Levites, who merited the sacred service for this, as all their actions were in purity.
“And she will conceive offspring [venizre’a zera]” – these are the upright Israelites, whose offspring entered the land, just as it says: “I will sow her [uzratiha] in the land for Me” (Hosea 2:25). The Holy One blessed be He did for them what he said to Abraham: “And this entire land that I said I will give to your descendants, [they shall inherit it forever]” (Exodus 32:13), as it is written after the act of the calf: “The Lord said to Moses: Go, ascend from here […to the land regarding which I swore to Abraham…saying: I will give it to your descendants]” (Exodus 33:1).