Talmud for Exodus 22:17

MISHNAH: The following adolescent girls¹The biblical law prescribes (Deut. 22:28–29) that the man raping נַעֲרָה בְתוּלָה “a virgin adolescent girl” has to pay her father 50 šeqel and must marry her. In the corresponding law about the seducer of a virgin (Ex. 22:15) he has to pay if he does not marry the girl. In that paragraph, the adolescent is not mentioned; but since it is stated that the father has the right to withhold her from the seducer, it follows that the girl cannot be an adult; she must be underage or adolescent. An adolescent is a girl in the first 6 months after she grows two pubic hairs, cf. Nedarim Chapter 10, Note 1. The age at which the fine can be claimed is the topic of Halakhah 3:9. can claim a fine: From someone who has intercourse with a bastard girl²Obviously, one who rapes or seduces an eligible Jewish girl has to pay. The Mishnah enumerates only those categories where there might be an argument that he should not be required to pay. Each category is discussed in the Halakhah. A bastard is excluded from contracting a valid marriage in the native congregation in Deut. 23:3., or a Gibeonite or a Samaritan girl, and one who comes to a female proselyte, a kidnap victim, or a slave girl who was redeemed, converted, or freed, at less than three years and one day of age³Cf. Mishnah 1:2.. Also from one who has intercourse with his sister, or his father’s sister, or his mother’s sister, or his wife’s sister, or his brother’s wife⁴If she was divorced or became a widow before the final marriage. The preliminary marriage activates all incest prohibitions implied by marriage., or his paternal uncle’s wife⁵But for a capital crime he does not pay since there cannot be two punishments for one crime. Extirpation is a divine punishment, outside the purview of a human court., or a menstruating girl; he has to pay the fine since it is not a capital crime⁶This word is in the ms. and editio princeps but should be deleted. even though he is subject to extirpation.

HALAKHAH: “The following adolescent girls,” etc. It is written⁷Deut. 22:29, speaking of the rapist.: “She should be his wife,” one who can be his wife⁸This argument will be used at the end of the paragraph to exclude the slave-girl from consideration since she cannot legally marry anybody. The bastard can legally marry a proselyte or another bastard (Mishnah Qiddušin4:1). The inverse question could be asked if a bastard rapes a regular Jewish girl. The question is asked in the Babli, 29b.. Can the bastard girl be his wife? Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, “he should weigh silver appropriate for the bride-price of virgins⁹Ex. 22:16, speaking of the seducer. In the Babli, 29b, R. Simeon ben Laqish argues differently.”, that added many virgins. Rebbi Ze‘ira said, if it had said “virgin’s brides-prices”; but it says only “appropriate for the bride-price of virgins”; the verse added them only for the bride-price¹⁰It implies only that even a virgin disqualified in general still has a claim to a full ketubah; e. g., if a bastard girl marries a proselyte.. But where was this said¹¹That the fine must be paid.? As Ḥizqiah stated: “If refusing her father should refuse⁹Ex. 22:16, speaking of the seducer. In the Babli, 29b, R. Simeon ben Laqish argues differently.,” not only if her father refuses; from where even if from Heaven they refuse¹²By a biblical prohibition.? The verse says “refusing should refuse”, in any case. But then a man who has intercourse with a slave girl should pay the fine! This is impossible, as it was stated: I could think that one who has intercourse with a Gentile slave-girl should be obligated, the verse says, “by bride-money he should take her as a wife to himself.” Only one whom he can marry; this excludes the Gentile slave whom he cannot marry¹³While the Gentile slave-girl of a Jewish owner becomes pseudo-Jewish by baptism in a miqweh, she would be able to contract a marriage only by manumission by which she would become a full-fledged proselyte. Cf. Halakhah 1:4, Notes 181–184.. But he cannot marry his sister and he pays the fine! There is a difference since she can be married to others. But his daughter can be married to others and he does not pay the fine¹⁴Mishnah 3:2.! There is a difference since it is a capital crime and nobody who commits a capital crime pays money¹⁵Even if he cannot be convicted because there were no two eyewitnesses to the act..

‘Five things’, etc.: ‘A round cushion’. Why?²⁷Why is not their stuffing removed before immersion? For it is written, Woe to the women that sew cushions upon all elbows, and make pads for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls!²⁸Ezek. 13, 18. Here cushions are compared with pads [mispaḥoth]: just as a ‘scab’ [sapaḥath] is clean, as it is written, Then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is a scab,²⁹Lev. 13, 6. so too is a cushion clean.³⁰i.e. the stuffing in it need not be removed before the cushion is immersed.
The Rabbis taught:³¹Sanh. 68a (Sonc. ed., p. 462). [The story is related in ARN, p. 124ff.] When R. Eliezer fell sick, all the wise men of Israel came to visit him. That day was the Sabbath-eve and he was wearing his tefillin. His son entered to remove them from him,³²Because they are not worn on the Sabbath. but he rebuked him and drove him away in anger. [The son] said to the wise men, ‘I believe that my father’s mind is deranged’. Whereupon [R. Eliezer] exclaimed, ‘His mind and that of his mother are deranged but my mind is not’. As he was dying, he put two of his fingers together and said, ‘Woe to me because of these two Scrolls of the Torah!³³The parallel passage in Sanh. adds: ‘that are wrapped up’, so that they cannot be read. So had it been with his knowledge, none learning from him because he had been excommunicated. Cf. B.M. 59b (Sonc. ed., p. 353). Much Torah have I learnt and much Torah have I taught,³⁴Before the ban. yet I extracted little from the knowledge of my teachers like a dog lapping from the sea. My disciples have only extracted little from me like a painting-stick from its tube. If all the trees were made into pens and all the seas into ink, they would not suffice to write down all that I expounded. Moreover, I have studied three hundred laws on the subject of a deep bright spot³⁵One of the symptoms of leprosy (Lev. 13, 2). and three hundred established laws³⁶i.e. decisions arrived at after discussion. derived from the verse, Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live,³⁷Ex. 22, 17. and no man, excepting ‘Aḳiba b. Joseph, ever questioned me thereon’ [54a].
The master said, ‘Like a dog lapping from the sea’—he compared himself to a dog! He said it with reference to his disciples. And why to his disciples? Because they did not visit him during his illness; and it has been taught: He said concerning them, ‘I will be surprised if they die a natural death’.³⁸Sanh. loc. cit.