The Sotah’s Shame - And Her Royal Bloodline

“Her (a sotah) offering is one of barley…and we do not adorn it with levona.” (Perek 5, posuk 15)

A sota’s offering differs from all others in two ways:instead of the usual wheat it’s made out of barley, which in essence is animal feed. Also it’s not to be adorned with the sweet smelling levona spice, as are other offerings.

As is brought down in Rashi, chazal explain these differences. A sota is being accused of adultery..Since she may have behaved according to her animalistic instincts, animal feed like barley is the fitting sacrifice that she must offer up. In addition, she does not enhance her offering with “levona”, a sweet smelling spice, because this spice is reminiscent of our matriarchs, Soro, Rivkah, Rochel and Leah. As Chazal explain: She, who has strayed from the ways of the matriarchs, is not worthy of having levona on her offering.

This last statement seems quite puzzling, perhaps even offensive to our holy matriarchs. This woman has possibly transgressed the most cardinal sin, and has certainly displayed a grave lack of modesty far removed from the standards of the mothers of our nation. If she has actually committed adultery, she is the antithesis of everything that they stood for. So, saying that she has strayed from their ways, is akin to saying that a mass murderer has strayed from the ways of our forefathers. The gap seems too wide for any comparison.

I believe that there is an important lesson that can be learned here on how to deal with sinners. If a sinner believes that he is beyond redemption, there will be no chance that he will do teshuva. If we show him that we have given up on him, he will most certainly give up on himself.

Thus, the sotah is certainly feeling awful about herself. When she is forced to bring animal feed as a korban, she knows that is because she may have acted like one. This can crush her spirit permanently. So next we remind her that she has strayed from the ways of the matriarchs. The comparison to them is meant to lift her down trodden spirit, to tell the sotah that all is not lost.

In essence the message of her offering is: You are a daughter of Soro, Rivkah, Rochel and Leah. Modesty is in your DNA. True, you have lost your way and drifted far, far away. But, you can reconnect to your roots because deep down you know who you are. When the sotah is given this message, even subliminally, her path to teshuva will not be insurmountable.