Follow up question: The Tosfot in Yevamot 11b DH Mai says that Sotah 7a rules that Ba Aleha ba'Derech Lokeh in other words if after kinui and stirah before drinking the husband has relations with his wife he's Lokeh. They presumably understand it from the Gemara on 7a that says the requirement to have an escort of Talmidei Chachamim is because they know how to give Hatra'ah d'Yad'i l'Asru'ei Hayah. They understand that this Hatra'ah is to give a punishment.
1)My question is Does Tosfot understand our Gemarah to be saying even b'Dieved Talmidei Chachamim are needed or only le'Chatchilah?
2)Is the Halacha that only a Talmid Chacham can give Hatra'ah to give an Onesh?
3)If not does any credible Posek, rule that way?
Thanks Rav Kornfeld
Aaron
R' Aaron, Baruch she'Kivanta! The Rashash (11a) raises your point. He writes that he did not find in Sotah 7a the words that Tosfos cites. The Rashash writes, like you say, that possibly Tosfos refers to what the Gemara says there that they should know how to warn him, and Tosfos understands simply that the husband needs warning if he is to receive Malkus. The Rashash writes that the above interpretation seems to be given by Tosfos in Sotah 7a, DH Ki Heichi.
1) However, Rav Moshe Feinstein zt'l, in Igros Moshe Yoreh De'ah 1:159, DH b'Davar, writes that Tosfos in Sotah 7a does not mean to say literally that one needs Talmidei Chachamim in order to give a Hasra'ah. What Tosfos means is that people who are not Talmidei Chachamim may not know how to administer a warning, or possibly the person receiving the Hasra'ah will not listen to someone who is not a Talmid Chacham since he might think that the people giving the Hasra'ah do not know the Halachah, and in reality the transgression that they are warning about is not as severe as they say it is.
2) The Igros Moshe writes that it is impossible to say that the Hasra'ah of ordinary people is invalid in order to administer a punishment.
3) However, the Rashash does seem to understand the Tosfos in Sotah according to its simple reading. But this matter requires further study because even the Rashash does not say that if it was not a Talmid Chacham the warning would be invalid even b'Di'eved. In fact, even though it looks at first sight that the Rashash and Reb Moshe are quite different, it may be that Rav Moshe agrees l'Chatchilah that one should have a Talmid Chacham, and the Rashash agrees that b'Di'eved if the warner was not a Talmid Chacham it would also be effective.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom
Thank you rabbi Bloom for your most thorough and clear answer. I wanted to say similar to rav Moshe but a bit differently. I wanted to say that pshat of Sotah 7a is that Talmidei Hachamim would be more effective in giving Hatra'ah as a preventative measure so the person does not sin because they have Yirat Shamayim and learned the Sugyot and will speak with more conviction. This fits in better with the Lashon of d'Yad'ei l'Asru'yei Beih as opposed to Rav Moshe who says regular people won't be listened to because the sinner will not look at them with credibility.
This Pshat is supported by the fact that Tosfot 7a brings a case where preventative measures are in order(to prevent an avenging murder) similar to our case and that could be what Tosfot 7a means when he writes"we see that by Hatra'ah 'we require' Talmidei Hachamim"i.e. to prevent the sin. Nevertheless I won't deny that pshat of that phrase sounds like Tosfot is talking about the validity of the Hatra'ah.