וְאִם־אֱמֶ֣ת הָיָ֔ה הַדָּבָ֖ר הַזֶּ֑ה לֹא־נִמְצְא֥וּ בְתוּלִ֖ים לנער [לַֽנַּעֲרָֽה׃]
Ngunit kung totoo ang bagay na ito, na hindi natagpuan sa dalaga ang mga tanda ng pagkabirhen,
Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin
MISHNAH: Money matters1Not only litigation involving loans, inheritances, gifts, or real estate, but also distribution of public funds (cf. Mishnah Peah 8:7). are judged by three [judges]; robberies2Including fraud. and injuries3Inflicted on humans. by three [judges], damages4Caused on living or inanimate property., half damages5Caused by somebody’s animals (cf. Mishnaiot Bava qamma 1:4–5)., double restitution6To be paid by the thief of inanimate objects, Mishnah Bava qamma 7:1. The thief of livestock pays quadruple or quintuple restitution. quadruple and quintuple restitution. The rapist7Who has to pay under four different categories (Mishnah Ketubot 4:1)., the seducer8Who has to pay under three different categories., and the calumniator9Who accuses his wife not to have been a virgin (Deut. 22:13–19). are judged by three [judges], the words of Rebbi Meïr; but the Sages say that the calumniator is judged by 23 because it might be a capital case10Since the woman is stoned if the husband’s accusation is proved correct (Deut. 22:20–21) and the biblical text implies that the court which might sentence the husband to a fine is the one which might pass a death sentence, the case has to be tried in a tribunal empowered to try capital cases.
According to rabbinic principles, Deut.22:13–21 cannot refer to a husband accusing his wife of not being a virgin since 1° by marriage, the husband became his wife’s relative and relatives are barred from appearing as witnesses; his case could not be heard. 2° there is no verse threatening a woman with death if she married when not a virgin. Therefore, the rabbinic interpretation of the paragraph is that the husband presents witnesses to the fact that his wife committed adultery while preliminarily married to him. A preliminarily married woman is married in respect to criminal but not civil law (cf. Introduction to Tractate Qiddušin).
Another aspect of criminal law in this case is the law of perjury, Deut. 19:18–19. Since the husband’s witnesses intended to have the woman stoned, if they are shown to be perjured they themselves are stoned. Therefore, the case may be heard only in a court competent to impose death sentences..
According to rabbinic principles, Deut.22:13–21 cannot refer to a husband accusing his wife of not being a virgin since 1° by marriage, the husband became his wife’s relative and relatives are barred from appearing as witnesses; his case could not be heard. 2° there is no verse threatening a woman with death if she married when not a virgin. Therefore, the rabbinic interpretation of the paragraph is that the husband presents witnesses to the fact that his wife committed adultery while preliminarily married to him. A preliminarily married woman is married in respect to criminal but not civil law (cf. Introduction to Tractate Qiddušin).
Another aspect of criminal law in this case is the law of perjury, Deut. 19:18–19. Since the husband’s witnesses intended to have the woman stoned, if they are shown to be perjured they themselves are stoned. Therefore, the case may be heard only in a court competent to impose death sentences..
Jerusalem Talmud Ketubot
There122Mishnah Sanhedrin 7:15; Tosephta 10:8. From “Rebbi Yasa” to the end of the Halakhah, the text is also in Sanhedrin 7:14; the readings from there are noted ן., we have stated: “He who comes to a preliminarily married adolescent is guilty123To be stoned, Deut. 22:24. The penalty for adultery (if the act is observed by two independent witnesses) is death by strangling. only if she was an adolescent, virgin, preliminarily married, in her father’s house124As the Babli explains (Sanhedrin66b), the law does not apply if the girl had been delivered to the husband’s emissaries to be brought to his place for the final wedding.. If two came upon her, the first is stoned and the second strangled125Since she was no longer a virgin..” Rebbi Yasa in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan, Rebbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rebbi Eleazar: That is Rebbi Meïr’s. But following the rabbis even if she is a minor. What is Rebbi Meïr’s reason? “A lad” is written in the paragraph126In the entire Pentateuch with the exception of Deut. 22:19, “girl” is written in the masculine form נער “a lad”. R. Meïr takes this as a restriction that the rules apply only to the adolescent in the strict sense. The rabbis take the spelling to mean that one deals with a girl that is not yet feminine, not yet sexually awakened. (Instead of postulating a unique Hebrew-Phoenician root נער III “youth”, the rabbis probably derive נער from the root עור “to awake”.). How do the rabbis explain “a lad”? Rebbi Abbahu said in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: Once in the paragraph it is written “a young woman”; this teaches that in the entire paragraph she is an adult127Deut. 22:19; the case of the calumniator must deal also with the possibility that the wife is criminally responsible, as pointed out by R. Meïr. Therefore, נַעֲרָ in the context of sexual offenses must mean “underage and adolescent”.. Rebbi Meïr objected to the rabbis: In the matter of the calumniator, “a lad” is written and she is an adult since a minor is not stoned128Deut. 22:21. An underage person is not criminally responsible; the seduction of a minor is statutory rape. If the criminal sanctions do not apply, why should the rest of the rules apply to an underage girl?! What do the rabbis with this? Rebbi Abin said, explain it if he came to her as to a male129The rapist is punished even if he uses the נַעֲרָ as if she were a נַעַר, without penetration..