Comentario sobre Deuteronómio 22:19

AND THEY SHALL FINE HIM A HUNDRED SHEKELS OF SILVER. The meaning thereof is that after the husband was administered stripes — a punishment deduced from the expression and they shall chastise him²⁰⁷Verse 18. Kethuboth 46a. — [he is to be fined a hundred shekels of silver]. For it was customary to write over a dowry of fifty shekels of silver to a virgin, but this person defamed her because he hated her and he wanted to send her away empty-handed. Therefore Scripture punished him with [a fine of] a hundred silver shekels, for the Torah punishes with a twofold measure, as in the case of the verse, he shall pay double.²⁰⁸Exodus 22:3. Although a kethubah (marriage contract) is only a matter of Rabbinic ordinance²⁰⁹See ibid., 22:15 — Vol. II, p. 387. for whoever made such a condition with her, or who married her without qualification, yet it was customary to write a dowry for virgins, just as it is said, according to the dowry of virgins,²¹⁰Ibid., Verse 16. and the majority did so. And if this woman had no kethubah, why should he have put forth wanton charges against her²¹¹Verse 14. because he came to her and he hated her — he should have written her a bill of divorce and be freed of her, as it is written, if you hate [her] send [her] away.²¹²Malachi 2:16. So interpreted by Rabbi Yehudah (Gittin 90b). [Instead he brought wanton charges against her, therefore he is fined double the normal amount of the dowry of virgins even if he had not given her a kethubah.]

וענשו אותו מאה כסף, “they will fine him one hundred pieces of silver;” Nachmanides writes that since it had been the accepted custom to pay a dowry of 50 pieces of silver when marrying a virgin to the father of the bride, or to her if she was of age, and this “groom” wanted to cheat the father out of that amount, the Torah imposes the kind of penalty that reflects the one paid by a thief, i.e. double the amount stolen.

וענשו אותו מאה כסף, Concerning the penalty of 100 silver pieces levied against the husband who slandered the reputation of his bride, Maimonides writes in Moreh Nevuchim 3,49: “seeing that the standard dowry of a virgin is 50 silver pieces (verse 29) and this husband had tried to make her lose her כתובה, her marriage settlement and wanted to divorce her without paying her a penny, the Torah treats him like a thief who has to make restitution of twice the value of the object he has stolen” (Exodus 22,8). Even though, in this case, the husband did not get to carry out his intention, we have a precedent of other witnesses being punished in accordance with the damage they wanted to cause the intended victim in Deut. 19,19 where the Torah discusses עדים זוממים. The corporal punishment administered to him reflects the fact that he tried to assassinate her character, to demean her; therefore her husband is being demeaned by having this corporal punishment inflicted upon him publicly. Seeing he wanted to betray her, divorce her without compensation, he is not allowed to divorce her ever, the opposite of his intent.

ונתנו לאבי הנערה, “and they (the elders of the town) give to the father of the girl;” all of the elders. The word נער is repeatedly spelled without the letter ה at the end of the word in this paragraph, but here it is read as if spelled with that letter, suggesting that harmony is being restored through the procedure decreed by the Torah.

לא יוכל לשלחה, “he can never divorce her at his own initiative;” this is in spite of the fact that generally, when husbands claim to have found that their wives had betrayed them they are considered as telling the truth. This type of individual is not believed unless he can corroborate his claim of her lack of virginity when she got married by eye witnesses. He has been proven a liar, therefore in the future his claims must be substantiated if he is to be taken seriously. A different interpretation: he is being dealt with on the basis of מדה כנגד מדה, “measure for measure,” i.e. tit for tat. He had tried to blacken his wife’s name so that no one would marry her in the future, hence he will not be able to rid himself of her. The Torah decreed the same penalty for someone who had raped (compare verse 29 this chapter). Seeing that he had forced himself upon his partner once, it is likely that sooner or later he will tire of her and try to divorce her. The Torah therefore prevented such a person from doing so. כל ימיו, “all his life.” The Talmud there queries why the Torah used language that implied that he had done such a thing as divorcing her once before, whereas he had actually not done any thing! The answer given by the Talmud is that this is the reason why that person also has not been punished with 39 lashes as he would have been had he violated a negative commandment by performing a forbidden act.