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If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/22-28.htm

If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife.

https://biblehub.com/exodus/22-16.htm

The verses are similar except on 2 phrases/owrds

The Deuteronomy ones uses words rape (or some word that's translated as rape). The Leviticus ones uses words seduces.

The fine is also different.

The rape is 50 shekels.

The seduction it's the bride price.

Which one is typically bigger? The bride price or 50 shekels?

How does the Beit Din decides the bride price the seducer has to pay?

Are the 2 verses basically the same thing? That's the main question and a few around that.

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  • Those are good answers. I would like to know how much typical bride price be? Also is 50 shekels all the guy has to pay or 50 shekels + bride price? Where does God get the idea of 50 shekels anyway? Shekels is actually a weight like kg right and God must have taken into account that price of silver is quite stable for 5k years?
    – user4951
    Jul 25, 2019 at 8:09

2 Answers 2

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These are the Differences according to the Rambam Hilchos Naaro Besula chapter 2:

Mefate (seduced girl):

  • Only the father gets Kenas (fine) of fixed 50 Shekel (50 is Learnt from a Gezeira Shava common word Besula from Anusa since only Yishkol i.e shekel is written ambiguous amount) not herself if she is an orphan since she wanted it and forgave the money.(kesubos 38b)
  • father gets Boshes embarrassment monetary value according to circumstances but she doesn't as an orphan
  • Father gets pegam loss of body value due to losing her virginity but she doesn't as an orphan (Kesubos 39a)
  • She gets payed straight away if she/her father/her seducer (they all have a choice) don't want the marriage as her seducer does not have to marry her, but if she gets married the 50 shekel gets given at the end of the marriage (Kesubos 39b)

Anusa (raped girl):

  • She as an orphan or her father gets Kenas (fine) of fixed 50 Shekel (Shekel is Learnt from a Gezeira Shava common word Besula from Anusa since only Chamishim i.e 50 kesef i.e ambiguous currency is written)(kesubos 38b)
  • She as an orphan or her father gets Boshes embarrassment monetary value according to circumstances (kesubos 39a)
  • She as an orphan or her father gets loss of body value due to losing virginity (kesubos 39a)
  • She as an orphan or her father gets Tzaar pain from the rape according to circumstances (kesubos 39a)
  • She is payed upfront 50 shekel whether she (if she wants to) gets married or not since if she and her father want the marriage (e.g she is blind or lame and needs care) her rapist must marry her and is not allowed to divorce her. (Kesubos 39b)
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  • Does the rapist pay 50 shekels + bride price or just 50 shekels total? Also, can her parent marry her off to someone else at a discount? She's not a virgin, but well, I got 50 shekels from the other guy anyway so want her? It's 50 shekels off. Still as good as new?
    – user4951
    Jul 25, 2019 at 8:10
  • So whether the girl is raped or seduced the penalty is 50 shekels?
    – user4951
    Jul 25, 2019 at 8:13
  • @user4951 50 shekel that the rapist pays at the begining is the bride price and thats all he has to pay aside from the damages (Pegam, Boshes, tzaar). There is no Ketuba if he married her as he cannot get divorced and the Ketuba was instituted inorder to make it difficult for the husband to divorce her. If she doesn't want to marry him her father can marry her of to someone else for the cut price 100 zuz which is about a 16th of the price of the Kenas which she gets as well
    – user15464
    Jul 25, 2019 at 10:05
  • @A seduced girlthat rejects the seducer gets payed straight away 50 shekel as well like in the case of rape, and her father also can marry her of to someone else for the cut price of 100 zuz. The difference is that if they both decide to get married (the seducer has a choice unlike the rapist) the seducer only has to pay the knas of 50 shekel when he decides to divorce her, which is will make him think twice and protect her marriage
    – user15464
    Jul 25, 2019 at 10:09
  • Say instead of raping or seducing the girl, someone like Epstein do it "properly". They come to the father's girl and say I want to marry your daughter. How much typical bride price at that time?
    – user4951
    Jul 25, 2019 at 11:59
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While these verses appear to be quite similar, the Sefer Chinuch, learns out distinct mitzvot from each of these set of verses.

The verses in Exodus 22:15-16 teach us the mitzvah of:

Mitzvah #61- The commandment on the court to judge the case of a seducer: To judge the case of a seducer - meaning to say one who seduces a virgin – that we should judge him according to his statute that is written about him in the section, as it is stated (Exodus 22:15), "And if a man seduces a virgin, etc." And the matter of seduction is that he tells her things that are false or [even] true until she gives in to him.

Whereas the verses in Deuteronomy 22:28-29, teach us the mitzvot of:

Mitzvah #557 - The commandment on the rapist to marry the one he has raped: That we have been commanded that one who rapes a virgin maiden must marry her as a wife and that he must give to her father fifty silver [shekel-coins], as it states (Deuteronomy 22:29), "And the man who lays with her shall pay the maiden's father fifty [coins of] silver."

Mitzvah #558 - That he not divorce her all of his days: That the rapist is forever prevented from divorcing the one he raped. And about this is it stated (Deuteronomy 22:29), "because he has violated her, he cannot send her away all of his days."

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