"The House of Assembly Shall Become a House of Prostitution" — Sotah 9:15
6 Nov 2026
Response by Rabbi David Bar-Hayim, Head of Machon Shilo, to the question of whether the talmudic statement in Tractate Sotah, “The house of assembly will become a house of prostitution,” can be understood as referring to a situation in which the United Torah Judaism Party (Gimmel) is considering joining a government of wickedness
To my esteemed correspondent,
We learn in the Tosefta, Tractate Sotah (9:15):
“The government will embrace heresy, and there will be no rebuke. The house of assembly will become a house of prostitution…”
This is the reading found in Kaufman and Cambridge manuscripts and it is the correct reading.
“The government will embrace heresy” — This apparently refers to the Roman Empire adopting the religion of the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, may his name and memory be blotted out. This is also the interpretation of R. Hanoch Albeck, of blessed memory.
It appears that these words were spoken long before Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, and that the Sages had already perceived and foreseen that this would come to pass.
“The house of assembly will become a house of prostitution” — Rashi (Sotah 49b) explains:
“The house of assembly — the assembly place of the Sages will become a house of prostitution, for the Sages will have disappeared, no one will study Torah, and the place will be desolate and deserted. Immoral people will gather there, since their study halls were situated outside the city.”
Rashi’s interpretation seems somewhat unlikely.
I would suggest, rather, that in the period preceding the coming of the Messiah, as described in that passage, human and Jewish society will degenerate and sink to the lowest level.
The statement here means that even Torah scholars will descend to a lowly level, pursuing money and selling themselves to the highest bidder, just as a prostitute strays from the proper path for financial gain.
And our eyes behold these things, and grow weary from witnessing them.
Woe to a generation in such a state!
David Bar-Hayim