Day #85–Rambam DAILY Sefer HaMitzvos

day number 85 of our daily study of ramam seifra mitsus and in the three chapters the definition of Torah we're starting a new basula which are laws that deal with crimes of an intimate nature and as such I just want to give fair warning that we are discussing such subject matter today and I'm going to try to proceed carefully with uh the respect that these subjects deserve however I do want to admit before we even begin that in a context such as this where we're rapidly going through the midst of safer mits was it's almost impossible to treat these subjects with the sensitivity and the solemnity that that they deserve positive commandment 220 the law of the Seducer that's our translation in English for mefata we're talking about a a scenario where a man coerces a woman it's not an assault um it is he uses Wiles and uh convincing to get her to consent um and this is a positive commandment how to deal with him after the fact and the way that it is dealt with is twofold he um must pay a monetary fine and he is required to marry her however major caveat she is not required to marry him if she does not wish to do so he's required to marry her as a protection for her but if she does not want to marry him then that is her prerogative to refuse positive commandment 218. this is the law of as opposed to the previous law where it was uh what we call the Seducer this is the the scenario what we call anus and this is an outright assault where he overpowers her and forces her to uh engage in intimate relations and the punishment well first of all let's let's say this is a positive commandment number 218 so it's a positive commandment meaning how he has dealt with after the fact meaning God forbid such things should never occur but it has occurred now okay now it has occurred there's a positive commandment how it is dealt with and again it is twofold it is a monetary fine I'll speak about that in one moment and he is obligated to marry her again with the same caveat it's her prerogative It's her protection that he has to marry her if she wants if she doesn't want to marry him then she obviously is free to to go she knows she's not bound to him okay now I want to speak about the idea that it's a monetary fine because I know in our modern sensibilities that can often be mind-boggling how is a crime of such a nature uh how is it punished with a with a monetary fine so I want to try to convey to you and this is my personal editorial comment one should not infer the gravity of this transgression based on the way that it is dealt with after the fact and and I'll try to convey that to you with one simple illustration there's something called a rate of a pursuer the law of the right of the law of the pursuer in Torah and that means that one is not only permitted but obligated to stop someone who is going to do harm to another person even if that means killing the pursuer there are only two scenarios where one is permitted and has a Mitzvah to stop a pursuer even if it means killing the pursuer and that is if the pursuer is going to murder there would be victim or commit sexual assault so I just want you to understand that if one catches someone in the act of pursuing for the purposes of sexual assault a would-be victim there is a law of radiff where one is permitted and even it is a Mitzvah to kill the pursuer to stop them from committing that act just like if they were trying to commit murder sexual assault is akin to murder in this context after the fact how it's dealt with is another matter and I know that can be a difficult concept to wrap our heads around again this is a highly sensitive issue this is not the context for me to try to do a even a cursorial overview of Jewish attitudes towards these crimes Okay negative commandment 358. this is specifically a Prohibition against the man who already committed this assault and has been forced to marry the woman when she wants again she agrees that she wants him to marry her there's now a negative commandment negative commandment 358 against him divorcing her so he has the positive commandment how he has to deal with her and now the negative commandment he's not allowed to divorce her okay positive commandment 219. and this is again a highly charged uh scenario a man marries a woman with the understanding that she is she has not had relations before after they consummate the marriage he says that that he believes that she misrepresented herself that she did have relations before their marriage if he is slandering her positive commandment 219 is how he is dealt with and interestingly part of his punishment is he receives corporal punishment lashes okay negative commandment 359. is in the same scenario as described in the previous Mitzvah it is a Prohibition against such husband from ever divorcing his wife he is not allowed to divorce her now obviously she could sue for divorce so we're not saying she's trapped in the marriage but he is not allowed to walk away from her at this point after he slandered her they're going to say why would she want to be married to him after he slandered her that's her choice okay but not his choice at this point he forfeited his choice he has a Prohibition he's not allowed to divorce her okay thank you very much for studying with me uh these difficult laws to study and we will see you again God willing tomorrow