“What in the world are you thinking?” asks Rabbi Ishmael TB Sotah 26

On today’s daf TB Sotah 26 Rav Naḥman and the rabbis disagree whether a girl who physically cannot have children (an allonit-אַיְילוֹנִית) drinks the bitter waters of a sotah or not. Rav Naḥman holds that this “woman (an allonit-אַיְילוֹנִית) neither drinks nor collects payment of her marriage contract, as it is stated: “And she shall be cleared, and shall conceive seed” (Numbers 5:28), indicating that the sota ritual pertains only to one whose way is to bear seed and give birth, excluding this sexually underdeveloped woman, whose way is not to bear seed.” (Sefaria.org translation) The rabbis teach that she can either drink the bitter waters or not collect her ketubah.

The Gemara wants to know how the rabbis understand the verse in Numbers 5:28. “They require it for that which is taught in a baraita: The verse: “And she shall be cleared, and shall conceive seed” (Numbers 5:28), indicates that if she was barren, she will be remembered and conceive a child; this is the statement of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Yishmael said to him: If so, all the barren women will seclude themselves with other men, and they will be remembered and conceive after drinking the bitter water and being found innocent; but that virtuous barren woman, who does not transgress the prohibition of seclusion, since she does not seclude herself with other men, she loses the opportunity to receive this blessing.” (Sefaria.org translation) In other words he says to Rabbi Akiva, “what in the world were you thinking?”

In the midrash Hannah uses Rabbi Akiva’s interpretation of this verse in Numbers to force God’s hand to hear prayer and have her conceive a child. “As for the double language in the verse, “if you will look upon [im ra’o tireh],” (I Samuel 11-gg) Rabbi Elazar said: Hannah said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, if You will look upon [ra’o] me now, fine, and if not, in any case You will see [tireh].

“What was Hannah threatening? She said: I will go and seclude myself with another man before Elkana, my husband. Since I secluded myself, they will force me to drink the sota water to determine whether or not I have committed adultery. I will be found innocent, and since You will not make Your Torah false [pelaster], I will bear children. With regards to a woman who is falsely suspected of adultery and drank the sota water, the Torah says: “And if the woman was not defiled, but was pure, then she shall be acquitted and she shall conceive” (Numbers 5:28).” (TB Sotah Berakhot 31b)

This midrash portrays Hannah’s desperate straits. She is even willing to be suspected as a sotah and debase herself in the humiliating ceremony of being forced to drink the water of bitterness, so that the Lord will give her children. In order to “force” God to listen to her, she uses His Torah as a weapon.

If you want to know how Rabbi Yishmael explains the verse numbers, go to our daf and see his alternative explanation.