7a: State of Love and Trust

What struck me about the mishna on the amud and the following gemara was the issue of trust. Who is the Talmud worried about more -- the wife or the husband? Sending two Talmiday Hakhamim with them on the way to the Sota ritual in Jerusalem indicates a distrust that they will not be able to keep their hands off each other on the way. Since the wife is an accused Sota, the rabbis do not trust her, but there is also distrust of the husband and even the other men -- unless they are Talmiday Hakhamim of course who could never be corrupted. Do they not trust the man because they don't trust the woman? In other words, because he will not be able to withstand her seductive powers? Or do they not trust the man because he is a man, always ready to pounce -- or perhaps, as indicated in earlier posts, that he being forced to bring her to the Sota ritual and may what to nullify it by having sex with her on the road.

Perhaps also there is an undercurrent of commentary on the complexity of relationships. Similar to the opening aggadot on how hard it is for God to make good matches. With love comes crazy emotions -- perhaps this is the rabbis Shakespearean moment as they try to discern the complicated human emotion of love.