Sotah, Chapter 1, Mishnah 5. The Mishnah continues to describe the next stage of the process: after they have warned her and frightened her, "im amrah temei'ah ani" - that is, if she admitted and said "I committed adultery" - "shoveres kesubah v'yotzeis". She writes a receipt canceling her kesubah, goes out and is divorced, and receives a get.
"Shoveres kesubah" - what is a shover:
The phrase "shoveres kesubah" refers to her writing a shover. A shover is a receipt, and its name comes from the word "sheverah," breaking, because it breaks the obligation: there is an obligation - the kesubah document - and she writes a receipt against it. Why is it necessary to write a shover declaring that she does not collect the kesubah, rather than simply tearing up the kesubah document itself? Because the case here is one in which the custom was not to write a kesubah at all, and therefore, so that she will not be able to collect her kesubah, she must write a shover - a receipt attesting that she has no claim to a kesubah.
"Tehorah ani" - being brought up to the gate of Nikanor:
The Mishnah continues and discusses the opposite case: if she said "tehorah ani," meaning "I am innocent and I did not commit adultery" - what is done with her? "Ma'alin osah l'sha'ar hamizrach she'al pesach sha'ar Nikanor". The Gemara explains that she had originally been standing in a higher place, and although the Mishnah does not mention it, they take her down to the lowest parts of the Temple Mount and then bring her back up. All of this is in order to wear her out, in the hope that she will admit and give in before Hashem's name is erased in the water. And at the end of that procedure, when they bring her back up, they bring her to the eastern gate at the entrance of the gate of Nikanor.
There are two ways to understand this expression:
Rashi: They first bring her to the eastern gate, which is the lower eastern gate, and afterwards to the higher gate - the entrance of the gate of Nikanor, which opens into the Azarah, the courtyard of the Beis HaMikdash itself.
Tosafos HaRid: It is all one place, and the reference is to the entrance of the gate of Nikanor.
Three things are done in this place:
"Sham mashkin es hasotos" - the entrance of the gate of Nikanor is the place where they would give the sotos the water to drink.
"U'vodkin es hayoldos" - this is the very same place where they purify women who have given birth and brought their offerings.
"U'metaharin es hametzora'im" - and there too they purify the metzora'im, who likewise bring their offerings.
The reason this place is used: it is immediately adjacent to the Azarah where the offerings are brought, and at the same time it does not have the sanctity of the Azarah - that gate was not sanctified, and therefore people may stand in it. With regard to the sotah there is a special importance to this: if she dies, we do not want her to be in the Azarah, and she may also have a flow of blood during the process, as we will see later on.
Degrading the sotah:
At this stage "kohen ochez b'vegadeha" and disgraces her: "nikre'u - nikre'u, nifremu - nifremu". If the garment tore, it tore; and if it came apart along the seams, it came apart. "Ad shehu megaleh es libah" - until the point at which he exposes her heart, meaning her chest. "V'soser es se'arah" - her hair was braided, and he undoes the braid so that her hair will be disheveled, which is considered degrading.
The dispute between Rabbi Yehudah and the Sages:
Rabbi Yehudah: "Im hayah libah na'eh - lo hayah megaleh oso", and if her hair was beautiful, he would not undo it and take apart the braids.
The Sages: It is a mitzvah to shame her, even if in the end she turns out to be innocent, because of the verse in Yechezkel: "V'nivasru kol hanashim" - that all women should take heed and be chastened through this process, so that no woman will act as the sotah did, secluding herself with a man forbidden to her.
In summary: In this Mishnah we learned the two tracks of the process - admitting guilt, which involves writing a shover on the kesubah and leaving with a get, as opposed to the claim of "tehorah ani," following which she is brought up to the eastern gate at the entrance of the gate of Nikanor. We noted what is unique about that place, adjacent to the Azarah yet lacking the sanctity of the Azarah, and what is done there: giving the sotos the water to drink, examining women who have given birth, and purifying metzora'im. We also examined the act of degradation performed by the kohen, and the dispute between Rabbi Yehudah and the Sages as to whether she is disgraced even when her heart and hair are beautiful - for according to the Sages it is a mitzvah to do so, so that all women will be chastened.