In the Talmud, a Sotah is an adulteress, a woman who strays from her marriage.
In Naomi Ragen’s 2009 book, Sotah, Dina Reich is like many young women in her community. Raised in an ultra-orthodox community in Jerusalem, Dina knows what is expected of her. She will soon marry, produce children and continue a lifestyle that women in her community have lived for a very long time.
But Dina wants more than that. The man she wants to marry is not the man she ultimately marries. Her only outlet is an affair with a married man. When her affair is discovered, Dina is exiled to New York City. The exile from her home and family is designed to be a punishment, but it turns out to a blessing in disguise. Making friends with a woman named Joan, Dina’s world will expand in new and different ways. Can Dina mingle her past with her present or will she forever carry the burden of being a Sotah?
I read this book a long time ago. Sometimes, we make decisions and the consequences of those decisions are not always happy ones. But, that does not mean that a bad decision is going to haunt us for the rest of our life. Sometimes a wrong choice leads us to answering questions that we really needed to answer, but for whatever reason, chose not to answer.
I recommend it.
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