Comentário sobre Deuteronômio 22:15

אבי הנערה ואמה [THEN SHALL] THE FATHER OF THE DAMSEL, AND HER MOTHER [TAKE AND BRING FORTH etc.] — Let those who have reared this depraved child (lit., “evil plant”) be exposed to contempt because of her (Sifrei Devarim 235:9).

את בתולי, according to the plain meaning this refers to the blood lost when the bride’s hymen was broken, a residue of which is on the sheet of the bed.

ולקח אבי הנערה ואמה, “then the father and the mother of the girl will take (proof).” Nachmanides points out that at this stage both her father and her mother are mentioned as standing up publicly in defense of their daughter, although only her father speaks up in her defense. When submitting their evidence to the elders, father and mother are both involved. The reason why only the father voices his opinions in the forum of the elders is that seeing the indemnification for having slandered his daughter is payable to him, it is he who must submit the claim. On the other hand, all matters connected to שמלה, in this instance a simile for bedclothes, are a woman’s business, a mother’s concern. They are the experts capable of judging what colour blood originates in which part of the body. Normally, the sensitivity of the matter would have required that only the mother concern herself with this, but, seeing that the father had stated that he, as a father, had given this daughter to the man who now has slandered her reputation, and by inference the father’s inability to have brought up his daughter properly, he is invited by the Torah to be present throughout the proceedings.

ולקח אבי הנערה, “the father and the mother of the girl shall take.” if they are alive; if the girl is an orphan, an appointee of the court performs the services of father and mother (Ibn Ezra).

Those who nurtured the evil branch, etc. Otherwise, the verse should have said, “They will take the girl and prove, etc.” Why does it say, “The girl’s father and mother”? Therefore it is to be expounded: See these [i.e., these parents] who nurtured this evil branch, etc.

VV. 15 — 17. ולקח אבי הנערה ואמה (vergl. — ויקח קרח. Bamidbar 16, 1). והוציאו את בתולי הנערה und ebenso כשרי בתולי בתי :ואלה בתולי בתי, die Rechtfertigung der Jungfräulichkeit der Angeklagten durch Gegenzeugen, welche den Zeugen der Anklage mit הזמה (Kap. 19, 17 f.) entgegentreten (Ketubot 46 a; siehe כ׳׳מ zu שמלה ,ופרשו השמלה — .)12 ,3 הל׳ נערה ist überall ein Gewand, worin etwas eingehüllt wird; daher ja auch סמל: die äußere Form, שמלות der ganze Anzug, die Kleider, und לוטה בשמלה (Sam. I. 21, 10), מי צרר מים בשמלה (Prov. 30, 4). Auch Sem und Japhet nehmen ein שמלה zur Verhüllung des Vaters (Bereschit 9, 23). Daher (Ketubot daselbst): מאי ופרשו השמלה אמר רבי אבהו פרשו מה ששם לה, כדתניא ופרשו השמלה מלמד שבאין עדים של זה ובוררין את הדבר כשמלה חדשה sie legen das auseinander, was er gegen sie versteckt angestellt hat (sie bringen seine Hinterlist an den Tag), wie es in der ברייתא erklärt wird: den Zeugen des Mannes gegenüber treten die Zeugen des Vaters auf und so bringt man die Sache zur Klarheit, wie ein neues faltenloses Gewand.