Sotah Today

The case of סוטה, the woman suspected of being unfaithful to her husband, is the only Mitzva in the Torah that is decided by a miracle. If the woman is guilty, she drinks a strange concoction and her stomach explodes. If she is innocent, she is blessed with beautiful children. The סוטה case only applied at the time of the Temple, but there is an aspect of סוטה even today. If a husband has two witnesses testifying that they saw his wife go into a secluded room alone with another man, he must be careful how he handles the situation. If he officially warns her in front of two witnesses that she better not be alone again with this man, he may have a problem on his hands. The wife claims that nothing happened and she did nothing wrong. However, now that she has been warned, if she actually was alone again with the same man, and it was witnessed by two kosher Jews, he now has a סוטה situation on his hands. His marriage must be terminated because the only way his wife can prove her innocence, is by drinking the Sotah waters. And since there is no Temple, his formal warnings leave him with no recourse other than to divorce her. Women need to act more modestly and not put themselves in such a predicament. And husbands need to give the benefit of the doubt. If he is overzealous, he might have to give up on a good wife, who may have been a little careless.