A.
Our parasha describes the ordeal of the sota, a woman whose husband has reason to be suspicious that she has been disloyal, but is unable to press a claim in court. The woman, of course, has denied all wrongdoing, but her denials do not allay her husband’s suspicions. In such a case, the Torah tells us, והביא האיש את אשתו אל הכהן וגו' (“And the man will bring his wife to the kohén....” V, 15), whereupon an elaborate ritual ensues. The purpose of the ritual is in part psychodrama, designed, as Rashi explains in an insightful comment, כדי ליגעה ותטרוף דעתה ותודה (“to exhaust her and fray her nerves so that she might confess”) in the event that she really is guilty, and thereby be spared the rest of the ordeal.
As the process nears its climax, we read: והעמיד הכהן את האשה לפני ד' ופרע את ראש האשה וגו' (“And the kohén will make the woman stand before Ha-Shem, and he will uncover the woman’s head....” ibid., 18) whence we learn, Rashi writes following the Sifrei, מכאן לבנות ישראל שגלוי הראש גנאי להן (“from here [we learn] that uncovering the head is a disgrace for daughters of Israel”). Which brings to mind an odd incident recorded in the Talmud.
B.
כי הא דרב אדא בר אהבה חזיי' לההיא כותית דהות לבישא כרבלתא בשוקא, סבר דבת ישראל היא, קם קרעי' מנה. אגלאי מלתא דכותית היא, שיימוה בארבע מאות זוזי. א"ל מה שמך? אמרה לי' מתון. אמרה לה מתון, מתון ארבע מאות זוזי שויא! (“Rav Adda bar Ahava once saw a certain non-Jewish girl wearing a provocative headdress in the marketplace; he thought she was a daughter of Israel, and arose and tore it from her. When it was revealed that she was non-Jewish, [the court] evaluated her damage at 400 zuz. [Rav Adda bar Ahava] asked her, 'What is your name?' She told him, 'Mathun.' He said, 'Mathun, Mathun is worth 400 zuz!'”; ברכות כ. ).
With a little help from the commentators, we can make this story a bit less cryptic. The Massoreth ha-Shas quotes the ‘Aruch as explaining that the headdress which the girl was wearing was considered unacceptable for Jewish girls שהוא פריצות ומביא לדבר עבירה (because it was immodest and [intended to] lead one into sin”). Hence, Rav Adda bar Ahava’s outrage when he thought that he saw a Jewish girl wearing such an item of clothing.
Rashi explains his odd remark on hearing the girl’s name: שמה גרם לי , “Her name caused me” to make a pun: Mathan is two hundred in Aramaic; thus, her name, repeated twice, was equivalent to 400, the amount of his fine. Alternatively, the name itself means something like patient, from the same root as the Hebrew word himtin, “to wait patiently, hold off, go slow”; hence, writes Rashi, Rav Adda bar Ahava was shaking his head ruefully, saying אם המתנתי הייתי משתכר ד' מאות זוז (“If I had held off, I would have been spared 400 zuz”). The Maharsha notes that the fine is in line with the Talmud’s assessment against anyone who embarrasses a Jewish woman in public by uncovering her hair (עיי' בבא קמא צ.).
Fair enough, but the Vilna Ga’on (Gra)is still bothered by the remark (עיי' ליקוטים שבסוף ספר דבר אלי' על איוב). It would have made sense, he argues, if the fine had been 200 zuz, to look for a hint in the girl’s name. What sort of hint is to be found by doubling the name, he wonders. What extra meaning can be gleaned from saying her name twice?
צריך עיון; the Gra leaves his question unanswered. Perhaps we can find an answer for it.
C.
To begin looking for an answer to the Gra’s question, we turn elsewhere in the Talmud, where we learn: כל האומר רחב רחב מיד נקרי (“Anyone who says, ‘Rachav. Rachav, immediately suffers a nocturnal emission;” תענית ה:). Why? Rachav, of course, was the “professional” woman who plied her trade in Jericho, and who befriended the spies sent by Yehoshua bin Nun to that city before it was placed under siege (cf. Joshua II). As to the doubling of her name, our attention is drawn to the midrash on Genesis XXII, 11: "ויקרא אליו מלאך ד' מן השמים ויאמר אברהם אברהם" תני ר' חייא לשון חיבה, לשון זירוז (“‘And the angel of Ha-Shem called to him from the heavens and said, Avraham, Avraham!’; Rabbi Chiyya taught, '[This is] an expression of affection, an expression of encouragement;'” בראשית רבא פנ"ו סי' ט' ).
D.
“Affection” and “encouragement” are a two-edged weapon. One can feel affection for, and encourage, someone engaged in an action wholly noble and admirable, such as Avraham complete faith in Ha-Shem, such that he did not hesitate when asked to sacrifice his entire future and legacy; or it is possible to entice and encourage someone in rather less admirable actions, such as Rachav was wont to do.
Both senses, I think, are operative in Rab Adda bar Ahava’s pun. On the one hand, regardless of the girl’s ethnicity or religious affiliation, it was apparently obvious from her mode of dress that she was advertising in the marketplace, and her comportment and dress were such that, when he thought he saw a Jewish girl behaving in this way, “Mathun, Mathun,” Rav Adda bar Ahava felt driven to action.
On the other hand, mathun, mathun is a principle which deserves to be encouraged; one should try to avoid precipitous action, think and consider. Perhaps Rav Adda should have approached the young woman, asked her who she was (presumably from the name “Mathun” it would have been suffieciently obvious that she was not Jewish), and thereby spared her the embarrassment, and himself the fine.
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