אִ֥ם תִּכְתּֽוֹשׁ־אֶת־הָאֱוִ֨יל ׀ בַּֽמַּכְתֵּ֡שׁ בְּת֣וֹךְ הָ֭רִיפוֹת בַּֽעֱלִ֑י לֹא־תָס֥וּר מֵ֝עָלָ֗יו אִוַּלְתּֽוֹ׃ (פ)
Choćbyś błazna w moździerzu utłukł, wpośród krupy stęporem, toby jednak głupota jego nie oddzieliła się od niego.
Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin
Rebbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac asked: How can a ḥăruphah slave girl138Cf. Lev. 19:20–22. The slave girl has a status approximating that of married woman but sleeps with another man. By rabbinic interpretation, the girl is whipped and the man has to bring a reparation sacrifice. The exact meaning of the root חרף is in doubt, in view of the multiple meanings of Arabic حرف or خرف; rabbinic interpretations are given at the end of this paragraph and the next. If she were an unattached slave, she could not marry and, therefore, could have guiltless sex with any man of her choosing. The Jewish man who slept with her would be guilty of violating Deut. 23:18 for which he could be whipped if the act was observed by two witnesses, but no sacrifice would be due. acquire her autonomy in such a way that she would be freed from flogging, and [free] the one who had intercourse with her from a reparation sacrifice? It is obvious that she cannot leave by a bill of divorce since Rebbi Ḥiyya said in Rebbi Joḥanan’s name: If a person who is half slave and half free entered a preliminary marriage, one does not consider his marriage139Giṭṭin 4:5, Notes 140–141. In this interpretation the girl is partially manumitted and engaged to be married by a free Jewish man after her complete manumission. Since in her present state she cannot be legally married, neither can she be divorced.. In parallel, if he divorced one does not consider his divorce. It is obvious that she can leave by a bill of divorce at least since (Rebbi Ḥiyya said in Rebbi Joḥanan’s name: If a person who is half slave and half free entered a preliminary marriage, one does not consider his marriage. In parallel, if he divorced one does not consider his divorce. It is obvious that she can leave by a bill of divorce at least)140The meaning of this sentence is unclear. The text in parentheses is dittography inserted by the corrector.. Rebbi Yose said in Rebbi Joḥanan’s name: Aquila the proselyte translated before Rebbi Aqiba “and she is a slave girl נֶחֱרֶפֶת to a man”141Lev. 19:20., by “one who was pounded before a man”142She was betrothed by intercourse., as you say, “she spread morsels on it1432S. 17:19. The identification of ה and ח is routine in rabbinic derivations but etymologically unfounded. Modern dictionaries treat הריפות, הרפות as derived from a hypothetical root ריף, not הרף..” Rebbi Ḥiyya said in Rebbi Joḥanan’s name: So Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Simeon explained it before the Sages. “And she is a slave girl נֶחֱרֶפֶת to a man”, by “one who was pounded before a man”, as you say, “in morsels by a pestle.144Pr. 17:19. Aquila translates בְּתוֹךְ הָרִיפוֹת by ἐν μέσῳ ἐμπτισσομένων “in the midst of pounded things”. Both verses are quoted in the same sense in the Babli, Keritut 11a, that a man who sleeps with a ḥaruphah slave girl is guilty only if the girl had previously slept with her assignee, not if she is a virgin. (This agrees with the derivation of נחרפת, accepted by Gesenius, from Accadic ẖarāpu, Arabic خرف “to pluck, to harvest”, that the slave girl “had been plucked by a man,” Lev. 19:20.) The tradent there is R. Isaac; Aquila is not mentioned [since in the Babli’s tradition he did not translate following R. Aqiba but R. Eliezer and R. Joshua, one generation earlier (Megillah 3a).] {One is tempted to find in ח̇רפ the root of Greek Χάρυβδις, a dangerous whirlpool between Italy and Sicily, personified as a dangerous female being who “plucks men” (E. G.).}”