003 - הִלְכוֹת אִסּוּרֵי בִּיאָה פֵּרֶק ג

Laws of Issurei Bi'ah, Chapter 3

1. One who has relations with the wife of a minor—even if she was a yevamah with whom a boy of nine years and one day had relations—is exempt. Likewise, one who has relations with the wife of a deaf-mute or of a mentally incompetent man, with the wife of a tumtum or of an androginos, with a deaf-mute or mentally incompetent woman married to a man who is competent, or with a woman whose betrothal is in doubt or whose divorce is in doubt—all of them are exempt. If they acted wilfully, they are given disciplinary lashes.

2. One who has relations with a minor girl who is the wife of an adult: if her father betrothed her, he is punished by strangulation, and she is exempt from everything, and she becomes forbidden to her husband, as we explained in Hilchos Sotah. If she is of the status that can dissolve the marriage by mi'un (her own refusal), he is given disciplinary lashes, and she remains permitted to her husband, even if he is a kohen.

3. When the daughter of a kohen was unfaithful while a married woman—whether her husband was a kohen or a Yisrael, and even if her husband was a mamzer, a nasin or anyone else forbidden to her by a negative commandment—she is burned, as it says, "וּבַת אִישׁ כֹּהֵן, כִּי תֵחֵל לִזְנוֹת . . . בָּאֵשׁ תִּשָּׂרֵף" ("And the daughter of a kohen, if she profanes herself through harlotry . . . shall be burned with fire," Vayikra 21:9), and the man with her is strangled. Likewise, the daughter of a Yisrael who is the wife of a kohen is strangled, as is the law for every married woman.

4. One who has relations with a betrothed na'arah—both are stoned. They are not liable to stoning unless she is a na'arah, a besulah, betrothed, and in her father's house. If she was a bogeres (past the age of na'arus), or had entered the chuppah—even though relations had not yet taken place, and even if her father handed her over to the husband's agents and she was unfaithful on the way—she is strangled.

5. One who has relations with a betrothed minor in her father's house is stoned, and she is exempt. A betrothed na'arah who is the daughter of a kohen and was unfaithful is stoned.

6. If ten men had relations with her one after another while she was a besulah under her father's authority, the first is stoned and all the others are strangled. When does this apply? When they had relations with her in the natural way. But if they had relations with her not in the natural way, she is still a besulah, and all of them are stoned.

7. A betrothed na'arah who was a freed maidservant or a convert—even if she was freed or converted when less than three years old—is strangled, like any married woman.

8. There is a special law in the case of motzi shem ra (one who defames his bride). What is the special law? If the charge is found to be true, and witnesses came that she was unfaithful while she was a betrothed na'arah—even if she was unfaithful after she left her father's house, and even if she was unfaithful after she entered the chuppah, before her husband had relations with her—she is stoned at the entrance of her father's house. But other betrothed na'aros, who are not subject to the law of motzi shem ra and were unfaithful after they left their father's house, are strangled, as we have explained. You thus learn that a married woman may be subject to three kinds of death: there is a married woman who is strangled, a married woman who is burned, and a married woman who is stoned.

9. Where is a betrothed na'arah who was unfaithful stoned? If she was unfaithful in her father's house, even though the witnesses testified about her only after she came to her father-in-law's house, she is stoned at the entrance of her father's house. If she was unfaithful in her father-in-law's house before her father handed her over, even though they testified about her after she returned to her father's house, she is stoned at the entrance of the gate of that city.

10. If the witnesses came after she became a bogeres, or after her husband had relations with her, even though they testified that she was unfaithful in her father's house while she was a na'arah, she is stoned at the place of stoning.

11. If she was conceived not in holiness and born in holiness (her mother having converted while pregnant), she is stoned at the entrance of the city gate. Whenever the mitzvah is to stone her at the entrance of the city gate, if it was a city whose majority are gentiles, she is stoned at the entrance of the court. Whenever the mitzvah is to stone her at the entrance of her father's house, if she had no father, or she had a father but he had no house, she is stoned at the place of stoning, for "פֶּתַח בֵּית-אָבִיהָ" ("the entrance of her father's house," see Devarim 22:21) was stated only as the preferred way of fulfilling the mitzvah.

12. One who has relations with one of the arayos many times is liable to kares or to death by the court for each act. Even though the court can carry out only one death, the acts are counted against him as many transgressions. Likewise, if he committed a single act for which one is liable on many counts: if he acted unwittingly, he brings an offering for each count, even though it is a single act, as will be explained in Hilchos Shegagos; and if he acted wilfully, it is counted against him as many transgressions. Likewise, there are cases where one commits a single act and receives many sets of lashes for it, as will be explained.

13. The shifchah charufah (designated maidservant) mentioned in the Torah is a woman who is half a maidservant and half free, and is betrothed to a Hebrew servant, as it says, "לֹא יוּמְתוּ, כִּי-לֹא חֻפָּשָׁה" ("They shall not be put to death, because she was not freed," Vayikra 19:20). Hence, if she was entirely freed, they are liable to death by the court on her account, for she becomes a fully married woman, as we explained in Hilchos Ishus.

14. Relations with this maidservant differ from all other forbidden relations in the Torah. She receives lashes, as it says, "בִּקֹּרֶת תִּהְיֶה" ("there shall be punishment by lashes," Vayikra 19:20), and he is liable to a guilt-offering (asham), as it says, "וְהֵבִיא אֶת-אֲשָׁמוֹ" ("and he shall bring his guilt-offering," Vayikra 19:21). Whether he acted unwittingly or wilfully with a shifchah charufah, he brings an asham. One who had relations with her many times, whether wilfully or unwittingly, brings one asham. But she is liable to lashes for each act, if she acted wilfully, like others who transgress a negative commandment.

15. One who makes initial contact with a shifchah charufah but does not complete the act is exempt; he is not liable until he completes the act. He is liable only if she is an adult, no longer a besulah, acting wilfully and willingly. But if she was a minor, or was a besulah, or acted unwittingly, or was forced, or was asleep, he is exempt. Likewise, if he had relations with her not in the natural way, he is exempt. For with a shifchah charufah the Torah did not treat natural relations like unnatural relations, as it says, "שִׁכְבַת-זֶרַע" ("lying carnally," Vayikra 19:20). But with all other relations, the Torah made no distinction between one kind and another, as it says, "מִשְׁכְּבֵי אִשָּׁה" ("as one lies with a woman," Vayikra 18:22; 20:13)—the verse tells us that there are two ways of lying with a woman.

16. Wherever we said regarding a shifchah charufah that he is exempt, he is exempt from the offering and she is exempt from lashes; but they are given disciplinary lashes by Rabbinic law if both of them acted wilfully and were adults.

17. If a boy of nine years and one day had relations with a shifchah charufah, she receives lashes and he brings an offering—provided she is an adult, no longer a besulah, and willing, as we have explained. For the man is not liable to an offering unless she is liable to lashes, as it says, "בִּקֹּרֶת תִּהְיֶה . . . וְהֵבִיא אֶת-אֲשָׁמוֹ" ("there shall be punishment by lashes . . . and he shall bring his guilt-offering," Vayikra 19:20-21).