The Torah in Parashat Naso (5:15) discusses the Minha (flour offering) brought by a Sota – the suspected adulteress who is brought to the Bet Ha’mikdash to determine whether or not she was indeed unfaithful to her husband. This offering, the Torah commands, must not include oil, which is added to other Minha offerings. The Sefer Ha’hinuch explains that oil is associated with light, as it fuels candles, which are used for illumination, and oil is therefore inappropriate in the context of the Sota, who committed her misdeed in darkness. More generally, the Sefer Ha’hinuch writes, it is fitting for this offering to be simple, crude and low-quality. Unlike most offerings, which should be honorable and impressive, this offering, which accompanies the unseemly process of determining the innocence or guilt of a woman who acted inappropriately and thus aroused suspicion, should be simple. The Sefer Ha’hinuch further notes that oil served as a symbol of royalty and prestige; thus, for example, kings and Kohanim Gedolim were consecrated with special oil, as were the utensils of the Bet Ha’mikdash. The Sota is to be treated in the exact opposite fashion, and so no oil is to be included in the procedure that is performed when she is brought to the Temple. The Sefer Ha’hinuch notes in this context that whereas most Minha offerings consist of wheat flour, the Sota’s offering consists of barley flour. The Sages explain that barley was used primarily as animal fodder, and it is thus used for the offering of the Sota, whose conduct in a sense resembled that of an animal. The Ramban offers a different interpretation, noting that the word “Se’ora” (barley) is related to the Hebrew word for “storm,” and the woman’s offering thus signifies the “storm” which would strike her in punishment for her misdeed. Likewise, the Ramban writes, the special water given to the women was contained in an earthenware utensil – because earthenware vessels were usually broken after they were used, and thus earthenware symbolizes the harsh fate that awaited the infidel woman. And, earth from the ground was added to the water, which the Ramban explains as a warning that the woman would be returning to the ground. This Misva applies only in the times of the Bet Ha’mikdash, and only where there is a Sanhedrin. A Kohen who adds oil to the Sota’s offering has transgressed this command and is liable to Malkut.