015a – יש בערכין – פרק שלישי – ערכין, דף טו ע”א

If two men had relations with her, one in an unnatural manner and one in the normal manner,^[1]

אילו באו עליה שנים אחד שלא כדרכה - first, and then the other came to her normally; she was still a virgin, so there is a fine. [They would say]: the one who had relations with a blemished woman pays fifty, while the one who had relations with an intact virgin pays only fifty. But now, regarding bosheth, there is a distinction: bosheth is paid for an intact woman more than for a blemished one.

They would say: "The one who had relations with a blemished woman pays fifty, and the one who had relations with an intact virgin pays fifty?"

Abaye said to him: If so, regarding a slave too they would say: "A healthy slave is worth thirty, and a slave afflicted with boils is worth thirty?"

מוכה שחין - this is considered blemished, like one who was had relations with unnaturally.

Rather, Abaye said: the verse says, "because he afflicted her" (Deut. 22:29), which implies that there is bosheth and pegam^[2].

תחת אשר עינה - the beginning of the verse: "And the man who lay with her shall give to the girl's father fifty silver" (Deut. 22:29). This implies that these fifty silver are paid as the fine for the affliction. Since the verse needed to be written this way, it implies that he is liable for other things, such as bosheth and pegam, which are not the fine for affliction, since even without affliction there is bosheth and pegam; this is the damage that leaves her worth less than before.

Rava said: as the verse says, "The man who lay with her shall give" etc. (Deut. 22:29).

The pleasure of lying with her^[3] is fifty; this implies that there is something else.

What is it?

Bosheth and pegam.

Mishnah

Regarding one who spreads an evil name, [the law is] to be lenient and to be strict.

How so?

One who spreads an evil name about the greatest woman of the priesthood, or about the least woman of Israel, pays one hundred selaim^[4].

So the one who speaks with his mouth is more severe than the one who does the deed.

נמצא האומר בפיו חמור - for he pays a hundred selaim, while the one who does the deed of rape of a virgin pays only fifty.

Indeed we find that "the decree was not sealed on our fathers in the wilderness, except because of slander."

גזר דין - that they would not enter the Land.

As it is said (Num. 14:22), "They have tested Me these ten times" etc.:

זה עשר פעמים - it is written about the spies; this implies that the decree was sealed on this.

Gemara

From where?

ממאי - that the one who speaks with his mouth is more severe, which implies that he pays only for the evil speech; perhaps this evil speech is more severe because it brings about killing.

Perhaps it is because it brings about killing.

As it is written (Deut. 22:20-21), "If the thing was true... and they shall bring out the girl" etc.?^[5]

Rava said: the verse says, "Who has brought out an evil name" (Deut. 22:14); [the penalty is] for the evil name that he brought out.

על שם רע - only because of the evil speech.

"Likewise we find that the decree was not sealed, etc.:"^[6]

From where?

Perhaps they had not yet filled their measure?

As Rav Hamnuna said: "The Holy One, blessed be He, does not exact punishment from a person until his measure is full."^[7]

As it is said (Job 20:22): "In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall come upon him."

במלאת ספקו יצר לו - when his measure is full with many sins, then distress shall come upon him.

Resh Lakish said: the verse says, "They have tested Me these ten times."

The decree was sealed on this:

על זה נתחתם - and not because of the accumulation of others [sins].

It was taught: Rabbi Elazar ben Parta said: "Come and see how great is the power of slander."

From where do we know this?

From the spies.^[8]

And if one who slanders trees and stones is punished thus, one who slanders his fellow all the more so.

From where?

Perhaps it is because of what Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa said?

As Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa said: "The spies spoke a great word at that hour."

As it is written (Num. 13:31), "for he is stronger than we."

Do not read "for he is stronger than we," but "from Him."^[9]

As it were, the master of the house cannot remove his vessels from there.

בעל הבית - the Holy One, blessed be He.

Rather, Rabba said in the name of Resh Lakish: the verse says, "And the men who brought out an evil report of the land died" (Num. 14:37), [they died] for the evil report about the land that they brought out.^[10]

על דבת הארץ שהוציאו - he means that they died.

It was taught: Rabbi Yehuda said: "Ten tests did our fathers test the Holy One, blessed be He."^[11]

"Two at the sea."

"And two in the waters."

"Two with the manna."

"Two with the quail."

"One with the calf."

"And one in the wilderness of Paran."

"Two at the sea," one on the descent and one on the ascent.^[12]

"On the descent," as it is written (Ex. 14:11), "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt?"

"On the ascent," like Rav Huna.

For Rav Huna said: the Israelites of that generation were of little faith.^[13]

Like Rabba bar Mari.

As Rabba bar Mari said: what is the meaning of what is written (Ps. 106:7), "They rebelled at the sea, at the Sea of Reeds, but He saved them for His name's sake"?

It teaches that Israel was rebelling at that hour, and saying:

ממרים - defying.

Just as we ascend from this side, so the Egyptians ascend from the other side.^[14]

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the minister of the sea: "Spit them out onto the dry land."^[15]

He said before Him: "Master of the Universe, is there a servant whose master gives him a gift and then takes it back from him?!"

שנותן לו רבו מתנה - [the gift is] sustenance for the fish.

He said to him: "I will give you one and a half of them^[16]."

אחד ומחצה - for Pharaoh it is written (Ex. 14:7): six hundred chariots, and for Sisera it is written (Judg. 4:3): nine hundred chariots.

He said before Him: "Master of the Universe, is there a servant who sues his master?!"

He said to him: "The Kishon brook shall be a surety."

Immediately it spat them out onto the dry land.^[17]

As it is written (Ex. 14:30), "And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore" etc.

"Two in the waters," at Marah and at Refidim.^[18]

At Marah, as it is written (Ex. 15:23), "They came to Marah, but could not drink."

And it is written (Ex. 17:3), "The people complained against Moses."

At Refidim, as it is written (Ex. 17:1), "They camped at Refidim, and there was no water to drink."

And it is written (Ex. 17:2), "The people quarreled with Moses."

"Two with the manna," as it is written:^[19]

Tosafot

אילו באו עליה שנים אחד כדרכה ואחד שלא כדרכה - Rashi explains: one first had relations with her unnaturally, and the other then had relations with her normally; she was still a virgin, so there is a fine. [They would say]: the one who had relations with a blemished woman pays fifty, and the one who had relations with an intact virgin also pays only fifty. Rashi explains in Sanhedrin (73a), regarding the case of "a rebellious and wayward son," that the one who says he does not pay until the act is complete, and Rashi there explains that it means he removes the virginity; this implies that we require the removal of virginity to be liable for the fine. But this is not so, for it is taught in the first chapter of Kiddushin (9b): ten men came to her and she was still a virgin, meaning that they came to her unnaturally. Rabbi says: I say that the first is stoned and all the rest are strangled, and Rav Zeira said: Rabbi concedes regarding the fine, that all of them pay. Therefore Rashi explains: "They would say: the one who had relations with a blemished woman pays fifty silver; the one who came after him [had relations] normally; [the one who had relations with] an intact woman pays fifty silver, the one who had relations with her first, unnaturally, for then she was intact." However, according to all the explanations it must be that the one who had relations unnaturally was the first, and in the texts it is written "the one who had relations normally," and according to Rabbeinu Yitzchak it is difficult, since he could have said "two came to her unnaturally."

(לעיל) אל תקרי ממנו אלא ממנו - that is, do not read it with a rafe, but with a dagesh. This is not so, for every "mimenu" in the Torah has a dagesh and does not interchange with this. So too we find in the Sifri: the words "and [it] did not flow forth" are not written here, but "and [it] did not flow forth."

כשם שאנו עולין מצד זה (אמרו) כך מצרים עולין מצד אחר - One must wonder how Israel of that generation, so small in faith, thought that God would perform miracles to bring the Egyptians out of their land to Eretz Yisrael. R' says in the name of his father, R' Shmuel, that Israel did not cross the sea widthwise, from one side to the other; for then they would have hurried to Eretz Yisrael. Rather they crossed in a single strip along the length of the sea until they turned toward the desert in one direction, for they could not go in any direction without crossing the sea, and the Egyptians were on their right and left. Therefore they crossed the sea in one strip until they turned to the desert on one side. This is what [is meant by] "just as we ascend from this side and come to the desert, so the Egyptians ascend from the other side, from the desert, and they pursue after us and overtake us," for they thought the Egyptians would not cross the sea but would come from another side. Thus is explained what is written (Num. 33): "they journeyed from Marah... and encamped at the Sea of Suph." For if they had crossed the width of the sea to the other side, how would they have met the sea again? Did they return backward? Rather, conclude that after traveling along the length of the sea they went out likewise along the sea, to the south of Egypt, for Egypt is likewise south of Eretz Yisrael, near its southern end, to the west; the Nile separates Egypt and Eretz Yisrael, and the sea on the south side of the land of Egypt runs from east to west. They went to the shore of the sea north of the sea that is south of Egypt, and afterward went out, having walked about half a round threshing floor, and came out on their northern side, which is south of the land of Edom and east of the land of Egypt. Afterward they walked some days until Marah, and afterward they were still by the sea; and when they needed to enter Eretz Yisrael they did not need to cross the sea, but went around Edom and Moab, which are south of Eretz Yisrael and east of the land of Egypt.

אחד ומחצה שבהם - in Egypt it is written: "six hundred chosen chariots" (Ex. 14:7), and in Sisera's case it is written: "nine hundred chariots" (Judg. 4:3). And although it is written, "all the chariots of Egypt" (Ex. 14:7)? It does not count them; rather, the officers of the land of Egypt were hung after the six hundred chariots, and the kings of Sisera were hung after the nine hundred iron chariots. And if the army of people is greater in this than in that, he is not concerned.

Notes

1. 1. Continuation from 14b, where the discussion concerns two men who lay with one virgin, and the fine for bosheth and pegam.
2. 2. Bosheth: the shame and humiliation of the girl. Pegam: the loss of her value, damage that leaves her worth less than before.
3. 3. The pleasure of intercourse: payment for the physical pleasure of the act; the fifty silver is for this.
4. 4. One hundred selaim: the fine the Torah fixes for one who slanders a bride (Deut. 22:19).
5. 5. Vehotzi: she is brought to her father's house and stoned by the men of her city (Deut. 22:21).
6. 6. Gezar din: the decree that the desert generation would not enter the Land. The Gemara teaches that it was sealed only because of the evil report the spies brought about the Land (Num. 14).
7. 7. Sa'to: the se'ah, a measure of volume. The meaning: until a person's sins fill his measure.
8. 8. The spies: the twelve men sent to scout the Land (Num. 13).
9. 9. Do not read...: the Gemara reads the verse so that it refers to God, as if to the master of the house (see Rashi).
10. 10. Evil report about the land: the bad report they brought about the Land (Num. 14:37).
11. 11. Ten tests: ten occasions on which Israel tested God in the wilderness; the Gemara lists them next.
12. 12. Descent and ascent: the two tests at the sea, one on the way down to it and one on the way up from it, per the Gemara.
13. 13. Of little faith: those of small faith.
14. 14. One side, the other side: their march along the sea. Israel comes from one side and the Egyptians from the other; see Tosafot below.
15. 15. The minister of the sea: the angel in charge of the sea (aggadic tradition).
16. 16. Chariots: Pharaoh had six hundred chariots (Ex. 14:7), and Sisera nine hundred (Judg. 4:3).
17. 17. Rashi, Exodus 14:30.
18. 18. Marah: a place in the wilderness where no sweet water was found (Ex. 15:23). Refidim: a place with no water (Ex. 17:1).
19. 19. Manna: the bread that fell from heaven in the wilderness (Ex. 16).