Sotah 56

כודאי

And from the position you have taken up<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Viz., drawing the above analogy. ');">¹</span>

וממקום שבאת מה סוטה רשות היחיד אף שרץ רשות היחיד

[proceed to draw the following deductions]: As [the case of doubt in connection with] the suspected woman can only occur in a private domain [where seclusion takes place],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As distinct from a public place. ');">²</span>

ומה סוטה דבר שיש בו דעת לישאל אף שרץ דבר שיש בו דעת לישאל

so [the case of doubt in connection with] a creeping thing can only occur [when the contact takes place] in a private domain.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If the doubt occurred about contact in a public place, there is no defilement. ');">³</span>

ומכאן אמרו דבר שיש בו דעת לישאל ברשות היחיד ספיקו טמא ברה"ר ספיקו טהור ושאין בו דעת לישאל בין ברה"י בין ברה"ר ספיקו טהור

And as [the case in connection with] a suspected woman is a matter where there is a rational being to be interrogated,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As to whether she had misconducted herself or not. ');">⁴</span>

ורבי ישמעאל א"ר עקיבא תרומה ומהדר ליה איהו כהונה

so [in the case of doubt in connection with] a creeping thing it must be a matter where there is a rational being to be interrogated.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' There must have been a person present who can be questioned about the probability of the contact having taken place. ');">⁵</span>

ותו לרבי עקיבא כהונה מנא ליה וכי תימא כהונה לא צריכא קרא

Hence [the Rabbis] said: Where there is a rational being to be interrogated, should a doubtful [case of defilement] occur in a private domain it is regarded as unclean, but should it occur in a public place as clean; and when there is no rational being to be interrogated whether it occurs in a private domain or in a public place a doubtful [case of defilement] is regarded as clean.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Thus the end of the cited Baraitha. ');">⁶</span> R. Akiba dealt above with [the woman being prohibited to partake] of the heave-offering, and R. Ishmael answers him with a statement about the priesthood!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Into which an adulteress cannot marry. The reply was quite irrelevant to the issue. ');">⁷</span> And further, whence does R. Akiba derive [the rule that the suspected woman cannot marry into] the priesthood? Should you answer that with reference to [this rule about] the priesthood a Scriptural text is not necessary,