Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Commentary for Kiddushin 123:2

בשלמא לרבי חנינא בן גמליאל היינו דכתיב (במדבר ה, יט) אם לא שכב איש אותך ואם לא שטית טומאה תחת אישך הנקי אלא לרבי מאיר חנקי מיבעי ליה אמר ר' תנחום הנקי כתיב

Daf Shevui to Kiddushin

The oath administered to the sotah, the woman accused of adultery, does not use a double formulation. This accords with R. Hanina b. Gamaliel but not with R. Meir.
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Daf Shevui to Kiddushin

R. Tanhum resolves R. Meir by rereading the Hebrew word for “be free.” The word is hinnaki which could also be read “ḣinnaki” with a chet, which means “strangled.” Thus R. Meir can indeed read a double formulation into the verse.
But now we have the opposite difficulty—if the verse is a double formulation, then it is a difficulty against R. Hanina. Again, the Talmud resolves by noting that the verse needed to teach that she is totally free if she did not sleep with another man. Otherwise, we might have thought that she is guilty of a violation since, according to rabbinic interpretation, to become a sotah she had to have been isolated with another man.
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