Door #1 or Door #2?, Sotah 2a

I've started a new study partnership with a friend, and we are learning the tractate of the Talmud that deals with the ritual of the Sotah. It is described in Numbers chapter 5. Essentially, if a man is suspicious of his wife being unfaithful, but has no proof, he can put her through an ordeal that involves drinking a bitter potion. It is probably the Bible at its most patriarchal.

The Rabbis, as they often do, immediately place limits on the nastier parts of this ordeal. Before allowing the ritual, they require the man to warn his wife before two witnesses to keep away from the particular man that he suspects of having the affair with his wife, and then have further witnesses that she has been alone with or spoken to the man after the warning. The Rabbis further state that it is forbidden to initiate the process of warning her, effectively making it impossible to do this ritual with Rabbinic approval.

As a further sign of Rabbinic disapproval, Resh Lakish stated, 'A man only pairs up with those who are suitable according to his deeds.' Basically, if you think your wife is sleeping around on you, check yourself and what you are doing before questioning her.

Resh Lakish's position seems to contradict a teaching by Rav Yehudah in the name of Rav: 40 days before the fetus is created a heavenly voice proclaims, "So-and-so will marry So-and-so, So-and-so will live in such a place, So-and-so will have this level of wealth.' How can a man's wife se be both pre-ordained and suitable according his actions? Where does free will come into this? The Rabbis resolve this, typically, with a cryptic statement. 'In one case[predestination] , this is the first wife, in the other case [when ones deeds determine the spouse], this is the second wife.''

It might be straightforward to think of the Rabbi's statement as literally being about two wives. Drawing on an earlier posting on this blog (see "Rabbinic Astrology", above) , I would interpret it differently. We have our luck, as determined by fate. This luck determines our 'first wife.' However, we have the ability to change our luck through prayer, good deeds, and repentance, or perhaps make our luck worse by behaving wickedly. If we act in particularly good or bad manner, we can change our fate and receive instead this 'second wife.'

When to read the Megila? Megila 6b

The holiday of Purim occurs in the Jewish month of Adar. The Jewish calendar is lunar. To help keep it in sync with the solar year, the Rabbis regularly add a 'leap month' to the Jewish year, which means we can have a year with two months of Adar. The rabbis argue over in this situation whether to observe the holiday in the first or second Adar of a leap year. Rabbi Elazar the son of Rabbi Yose thinks we should read it in the first Adar, and that way not skip over a chance to do a mitzvah as soon as possible. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel prefers the second Adar because it is followed immediately by the month of Nissan, where Passover occurs and we celebrate the liberation from Egypt. He puts it succintly - we should 'juxtapose redemption with redemption.'