Sotah

The question was asked, how is it if she said: 'I refuse to drink' through defiance and she retracts and says 'I am willing to drink'? Is it that since she said: 'I refuse to drink' she admitted 'I am unclean', and having presumed her self to be unclean, she is unable to retract; or perhaps, since she says 'I am willing to drink', she evidences that she first spoke in terror? — The question remains unanswered. Samuel's father said: It is necessary to put something bitter into the water. What is the reason? Scripture declares, The water of bitterness  — i.e., [water] which had been previously made bitter. MISHNAH. IF, BEFORE [THE WRITING ON] THE SCROLL HAD BEEN BLOTTED OUT, SHE SAID 'I REFUSE TO DRINK', HER SCROLL IS STORED AWAY  AND HER MEAL-OFFERING IS SCATTERED OVER THE ASHES.  HER SCROLL IS NOT VALID TO BE USED IN GIVING ANOTHER SUSPECTED WOMAN TO DRINK. IF [THE WRITING ON] THE SCROLL HAS BEEN BLOTTED OUT AND SHE SAID 'I AM UNCLEAN', THE WATER IS POURED AWAY AND HER MEAL-OFFERING IS SCATTERED IN THE PLACE OF THE ASHES.  IF [THE WRITING ON] THE SCROLL HAD BEEN BLOTTED OUT AND SHE SAID 'I REFUSE TO DRINK', THEY EXERT INFLUENCE UPON HER AND MAKE HER DRINK BY FORCE. GEMARA. Rab Judah declared that Samuel said in the name of R. Meir: When I studied Torah with R. Akiba, I used to put vitriol  into the ink and he said nothing to me; but when I went to R. Ishmael, he said to me, 'My son, what is thy occupation?' I answered: 'I am a scribe'.  He told me: 'My son, be careful, because thy work is the work of Heaven; if thou omittest a single letter or addest a single letter, thou dost as a consequence destroy the whole world'.  I said to him, 'There is an ingredient which I put into the ink, and its name is vitriol'. He asked me, 'May we put vitriol into the ink? The Torah has said: He shall blot out,  i.e., writing which can be blotted out!' What did [R. Ishmael] intend to tell [R. Meir] that the latter answered him in that manner?  — [R. Meir] meant, Obviously, I am skilled in the rules of defective and plene spelling;  but I even have no reason to fear lest a fly should come and settle upon the crownlet of the letter D and obliterate it so that it makes it look like the letter R.  There is an ingredient which I put into the ink, and its name is vitriol. But it is not so, for it has been taught: R. Meir said: When I studied Torah with R. Ishmael, I used to put vitriol into the ink and he said nothing to me; but when I went to R. Akiba, he forbade it to me! Here is an inconsistency in [the order of the Rabbis upon whom R. Meir] attended, and an inconsistency in [the name of the Rabbi who] forbade it. It is quite right, there is no inconsistency in [the order of the Rabbis upon whom R. Meir] attended; he first went to R. Akiba, but when he was unable [to follow his arguments],  he went to R. Ishmael. After having studied  with him, he returned to R. Akiba whose reasoning he was then able to grasp. But there is an inconsistency in [the name of the Rabbi who] forbade it! — That is a difficulty. It has been taught: R. Judah says: R. Meir used to declare that for all [kinds of script] we may put vitriol into the ink