About this episode
Today's daf is sponsored by Aliza Avshalom in loving memory of her mother Sara Feiga bat Ester and Arieh Bellehsen. "She taught me to love and live Torah." A braita is brought to elaborate on the theme of the Mishna that one can learn from the Sotah that punishment is meted out measure for measure. As a number of different verses were quoted at the beginning of the braita explaining this concept, the Gemara questions why all those verses were necessary. One is then used for a different drasha to teach how God metes out punishments to gentiles in a different manner than to Jews. Is this really the case or is it just for gentile kings? Another issue learned from the Sotah and others throughout Biblical history is that one who tries to get something that is not theirs to have will not only not attain it but will also lose what one has. The Mishna stated that the punishment is like the crime as she sinned first through her thighs and then her stomach and was punished in that order as well. However, the Gemara raises some contradictions in the verses there as some mention she will be punished in her thighs first, but others mention her stomach first. How are these verses explained? Shimshon and Avshalom were also punished according to their crime. That concept applies also to reward, as those who do positive actions, such as Miriam, Joseph and Moshe, were rewarded measure for measure. The Gemara starts on a long list of drashot on verses in the Shimshon narrative.