Sotah Chapter 2, Mishnah 1. This mishnah continues the discussion of the sotah process, and now we turn to her minchah - the meal offering that forms part of the procedure.
Bringing the minchah in an Egyptian basket:
"Hayah meivi es minchasah b'soch kefifah Mitzris" - her meal offering is brought in an Egyptian basket. "V'nosnah al yadeha" - the basket with the meal offering inside it is placed on her hands, in order to tire her out. This too is part of the process designed to bring her to a state of mind in which she will admit to the adultery, for then there will be no need to erase Hashem's Name in the water, since she will not drink.
The differences between the sotah's minchah and all other meal offerings:
"Kol hamenachos techilasan v'sofan bichli shareis" - all meal offerings begin and end in a sanctified vessel. The Gemara explains that the one bringing a meal offering does not bring it in a kli shareis from the outset, since nothing is placed into a kli shareis except in the Mikdash itself, in the Azarah. Rather, he would bring his meal offering in a vessel fit to become sanctified as a kli shareis, that is, a vessel of gold or silver, and from there it is placed into a kli shareis. "V'zu techilasah bikefifah Mitzris v'sofah bichli shareis" - the sotah's meal offering is brought at first in an Egyptian basket, which is neither valuable nor capable of holding the sanctity of a kli shareis, and only at the end is it placed into a kli shareis.
"Kol hamenachos te'unos shemen u'levonah, v'zu einah te'unah lo shemen v'lo levonah" - all meal offerings are brought with oil and frankincense accompanying them, whereas regarding the sotah's meal offering the Torah explicitly instructs that no oil and no frankincense be placed upon it.
"Kol hamenachos ba'os min hachitin, v'zu ba'ah min hase'orin" - all meal offerings come from wheat, while the sotah's meal offering comes from barley. The exception is the Omer offering, brought on the second day of Pesach from the new grain, which also comes from barley.
"Af al pi shehi ba'ah min hase'orin, hi haysah ba'ah geres, v'zu ba'ah kemach" - the Omer offering was brought finely ground, after being passed through thirteen sifters to ensure that it would be extremely fine flour. The sotah's meal offering, by contrast, is brought as ordinary flour - flour that still has some of the bran mixed into it.
The reason for the difference - the words of Rabban Gamliel:
Rabban Gamliel comments on this difference: "K'shem shema'aseha ma'aseh beheimah, kach korbanah ma'achal beheimah" - her actions were the actions of an animal, for she surrendered to her animalistic drives; an animal is not faithful to a single mate, and she too did not conduct herself with faithfulness, but rather like an animal. Therefore her offering too comes from animal food, namely barley, which is more of an animal food than wheat.
In summary: in this mishnah we learned about the sotah's meal offering: it is brought in an Egyptian basket and placed on her hands in order to tire her out, and there are four differences between it and all other meal offerings - it begins in an Egyptian basket rather than in a vessel fit to become sanctified, it is exempt from oil and frankincense, it comes from barley rather than wheat, and it comes as ordinary flour rather than fine meal (unlike the Omer offering). Finally, we noted Rabban Gamliel's reason: just as her actions were the actions of an animal, so too her offering comes from animal food.