Siyum on Sotah

This week, daf yomi concluded messecheth Sotah. Every Messechta has a personality.  Sotah is very distinctive. 

In some ways it is a continuation of Nazir, the preceding messechet.,Together, they deal with issues that are presented, juxtaposed, in the parsha for the coming week, introduced at mincha today: Naso: Nazir, the person who separates  from the community as an ascetic, and sotah the woman who is alienated from her husband by jealousy. There is also a mention of Birchat Cohanim, the priestly blessing,  that is described in the parsha. 

Incidentally, Sotah has 49 blat, one for every day of the sefirat ha'omer. Also, they are divided, the first 32 , lamed beth, blatt are about the details of sotah, a somewhat negative subject, like the 32 days of the omer that are more severe in their mournful aspect.  The last 17 blatt include the section on birchat Cohanim and are generally more agaddic. 

There is some ambiguiy about how the mesechta ends.  The Rom edition  has an addendum after the HAdran. That addendum is the famous breitha of rabbi Pinchas ben YAir, which becomes the skeleton of the Mesilath Yeshorim, the classic Musar text  by Rabbi  Moshe Chaim Luzzato.  It dscirbes a stepwise ascent of positive qualities  

רַבִּי פִנְחָס בֶּן יָאִיר אוֹמֵר, זְרִיזוּת מְבִיאָה לִידֵי נְקִיּוּת, וּנְקִיּוּת מְבִיאָה לִידֵי טָהֳרָה, וְטָהֳרָה מְבִיאָה לִידֵי פְרִישׁוּת, וּפְרִישׁוּת מְבִיאָה לִידֵי קְדֻשָּׁה, וּקְדֻשָּׁה מְבִיאָה לִידֵי עֲנָוָה, וַעֲנָוָה מְבִיאָה לִידֵי יִרְאַת חֵטְא, וְיִרְאַת חֵטְא מְבִיאָה לִידֵי חֲסִידוּת, וַחֲסִידוּת מְבִיאָה לִידֵי רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ, וְרוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ מְבִיאָה לִידֵי תְחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים, וּתְחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים בָּא עַל יְדֵי אֵלִיָּהוּ זָכוּר לַטּוֹב, אָמֵן:

 Rabbi Pineḥas ben Ya’ir says: Torah study leads to care in the performance of mitzvot. Care in the performance of mitzvot leads to diligence in their observance. Diligence leads to cleanliness of the soul. Cleanliness of the soul leads to abstention from all evil. Abstention from evil leads to purity and the elimination of all base desires. Purity leads to piety. Piety leads to humility. Humility leads to fear of sin. Fear of sin leads to holiness. Holiness leads to the Divine Spirit. The Divine Spirit leads to the resurrection of the dead.

The more standard last passage:

 מִשֶּׁמֵּת רַבִּי בָּטְלָה עֲנָוָה וְיִרְאַת חֵטְא. אֲמַר לֵיהּ רַב יוֹסֵף לְתַנָּא: לָא תִּיתְנֵי עֲנָוָה, דְּאִיכָּא אֲנָא. אֲמַר לֵיהּ רַב נַחְמָן לְתַנָּא: לָא תִּיתְנֵי יִרְאַת חֵטְא, דְּאִיכָּא אֲנָא.

The final line of the mishna states that from the time when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi died, humility and fear of sin ceased. Rav Yosef said to the tanna who reviewed the mishna: Do not teach that humility ceased, for there is still one who is humble, namely me. Rav Naḥman similarly said to the tanna who reviewed the mishna: Do not teach that fear of sin ceased, for there is still one who fears sin, namely me.

Clearly, there is a relationship between teh two possible endings. Pinchas ben Yair relates anavah, humility,  to  yirath chait, fear of sin and these seem to be successive rungs on the ladder Holiness  and resurrection. But the ending we have, with rabbi Yosef claiming humility and rabbi nachman claiming the next rung, fear of sin, is quite unusual. 

The Maharsha seems to say that these claims are for the sake of not making a mistake 

לא תיתני ענוה כו' ולא תיתני יראת חטא דאיכא אנא. אין דרך החכמים להתפאר ולהשתבח במעלתם וכמ"ש יהללוך זר ולא פיך מ"מ כדי שלא יהא שונה הברייתא בטעות אמרו כן דלא בטלה משמת רבי גם לא היה לו שבח בדבר באותו דור כמ"ש ויראי החטא ימאסו וק"ל:

the Sefas Emes  says that these tanaaim made these claims so that to demonstrate that these qualities had not disappeared. 

I find this a most appealing understanding. There is merit in recognizing the greatness and difference of previous generations. But there is also a message for us.  There is purpose in striving for improvement