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1) WRITING THE MEGILAH

(a) (Mishnah - R. Meir) (The Kohen) starts writing the scroll (that will be erased into the water) from "If a man did not lie with you ... since you strayed under your husband".

1. He omits "The Kohen imposes an oath on her"; he writes "Hash-m should make you a (means for people to) curse and swear ...The cursing water should come into your innards, to make the stomach swell and the thigh fall"; he does not write "The woman says Amen, Amen".

(b) R. Yosi says, he does not interrupt (i.e. he does not skip in the middle).

1. R. Yehudah says, he only writes "Hash-m should make you a (means for people to) curse and swear ... The cursing water should come into your innards..."; he does not write "The woman says Amen, Amen".

(c) (Gemara): The Tana'im argue on how to expound "The Kohen will write ha'Alos ho'Elu (these curses) in the Sefer".
(d) R. Meir says, "Alos (curses)" - these are the (explicit) curses; the letter Hei prefixed to Alos - this includes curses which are inferred from blessings (i.e. if the conditions for the blessings are not true, curses result);

1. "Elu (these)" - this excludes the curses in Deuteronomy; the letter Hei prefixed to Elu - this excludes directives ("The Kohen imposes an oath...") and acceptances ("The woman says Amen, Amen").

(e) R. Yosi learns as R. Meir, with one exception: The word "Es" teaches that he writes directives and acceptances.

1. R. Meir does not expound the word "Es".

(f) R. Yehudah learns that the entire verse comes to exclude.

1. "Alos (curses)" - these are the (explicit) curses; the letter Hei prefixed to Alos - this excludes curses which are inferred from blessings;
2. "Elu (these)" - this excludes the curses in Deuteronomy; the letter Hei prefixed to Elu - this excludes directives and acceptances.

(g) Question: Why does R. Meir say that the letter Hei prefixed to Alos comes to include, but the Hei prefixed to Elu comes to exclude?
(h) Answer: Alos comes to include, so the Hei prefixed to it also includes; Elu excludes, so the Hei prefixed to it also excludes.
(i) Question: (How can R. Meir include curses inferred from blessings) - R. Meir holds, we cannot infer the positive from the negative!
(j) Answer (R. Tanchum): The blessing "Hinaki (you will be clean)" may be read (by substitution of 2 similar letters) 'Chanki' (you will choke).

(a) (R. Akiva): When a husband and wife merit, the Divine Presence is between them; if they do not merit, fire consumes them (as hinted at by the letters of Ish and Isha).
(b) (Rava): The fire that consumes the wife is worse.
(c) Question: Why?
(d) Answer: Esh (fire) is part of the word Isha, without intervening letters.
(e) Question (Rava): Why did the Torah say that dirt should be used for a Sotah?
(f) Answer (Rava): If she is innocent, she will merit having children as Avraham, who said "I am dirt and ashes"; if she is guilty, she will return to the dirt she was created from.
(g) (Rava): As a reward for Avraham saying "I am dirt and ashes", his descendants merited the Mitzvos of ashes of the red heifer and the dirt of Sotah.

1. Question: Why did Rava omit the dirt of covering the blood (of a slaughtered fowl or wild animal)?
2. That Mitzvah has no direct benefit (i.e. above the reward Hash-m pays for fulfilling it).

(h) (Rava): As a reward for Avraham saying "(I will not take) from a thread to a shoelace" his descendants merited 2 Mitzvos: the thread of Techeiles (wool died blue, of Tzitzis) and the strap of Tefilin.

1. We know the direct benefit of Tefilin - "All the nations will see that the name of Hash-m is called upon you";

i. (Beraisa - R. Eliezer ha'Gadol): This refers to the head Tefilin.

2. Question: What direct benefit is there to the thread of Techeiles?
3. Answer (Beraisa - R. Meir): The color of Techeiles resembles the sea; the sea is as the sky; the sky is as Hash-m's throne of glory - "They saw Hash-m, and under his legs, as the sapphire brick, as clear as the sky";

i. It also says "As the sapphire brick, resembling the throne".

(a) (Mishnah): He does not write on a tablet, nor on papyrus, nor on an unworked parchment, only on a Megilah (a proper parchment) - "In a Sefer".

(b) He does not write with sap nor vitriol nor any dye that is absorbed into parchment, only with ink.

1. "He will blot out" - the writing must be erasable.

(c) (Gemara - Rava): If the scroll for a Sotah was written at night, it is invalid.

1. We learn this from a Gezeirah Shavah "Torah-Torah".
2. By Sotah, it says "The Kohen will do this whole Torah (procedure) to her"; another verse says "According to the Torah they will teach you, and the law".

i. Just as law (Rashi - monetary laws; Tosfos - capital laws, such as a rebellious sage) is judged by day, also the scroll of a Sotah.

(d) (Rava): If it was written out of order, it is invalid.

1. We learn this from "He will write these curses" - as they are written (in the Torah).

(e) (Rava): If he wrote it before she accepted the oath, it is invalid.

1. It says "He imposes the oath on her"; later, it says "He will write".

(f) (Rava): If he wrote it as a letter, it is invalid.

1. It says "A Sefer".