Soncino English Talmud
Sotah
Daf 27a
R. Amram asked: How is it if she was excessively dissolute? According to him who maintains that a woman only conceives immediately before her period the question does not arise, because [the husband] may not know [when this is] and does not watch her; but the question does arise according to him who maintains that a woman only conceives immediately after the time of her purification. How is it then? Does he watch her since he knows when this occurs; or perhaps this is of no account since she is excessively dissolute? The question remains unanswered. IN THE FOLLOWING CASES A COURT OF LAW etc. Our Rabbis taught: 'Man' — why does Scripture repeat the word? To include the wife of a deaf man, the wife of an imbecile, the wife of a weak-minded man, and cases where the husband has gone on a journey to a distant country or is imprisoned, that a Court of Law can give them warning to disqualify them in connection with the marriage-settlement. It is possible [to think that the warning] is also to make them drink; therefore there is a text to say: Then shall the man bring his wife. R. Jose says: It is also to make the woman drink so that when the husband is released from prison he makes her drink. On what do they differ? — The Rabbis are of the opinion that we require that the same man who 'warned' her must 'bring' her, whereas R. Jose is of the opinion that we do not require that the same man who 'warned' her must 'bring' her. Our Rabbis taught: When a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside — this is to compare a husband with a wife and a wife with a husband. For what practical purpose? — R. Shesheth said: Just as he does not make her drink if he is blind, as it is written: And it be hid from the eyes of her husband, so she does not drink if she is blind. R. Ashi said: Just as a woman who is lame or armless does not drink, for it is written,