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Arachin 15a

ערכין ט״ו ע״א

Arakhin 15a

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Topic

Extra payments of the אונס, the hundred-סלע fine of the מוציא שם רע, the severity of לשון הרע learned from the מרגלים, and the ten tests in the desert.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a question: how do we know that an אונס pays בושת and פגם on top of the fixed fifty-shekel קנס? רב זירא's argument from fairness is rejected by אביי, because the תורה also sets a flat thirty for any עבד. אביי then brings a source from 'תחת אשר ענה', and רבא brings one from 'השוכב עמה'. Next, a new משנה teaches that the מוציא שם רע always pays a fixed hundred סלע. From this the משנה learns that harming with speech is worse than harming with an act, and it supports the point from the מרגלים in the desert. The גמרא defends both proofs from challenges using פסוקים. It then brings רבי אלעזר בן פרטא's קל וחומר: if slandering the land was punished so harshly, slandering a person is much worse. Finally, a ברייתא of רבי יהודה lists the ten times our ancestors tested הקדוש ברוך הוא, and the גמרא begins explaining each one. That list includes the story of the sea giving up the drowned מצרים, and the explanation continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אִילּוּ בָּאוּ עָלֶיהָ שְׁנַיִם,

If two men came upon her,

אֶחָד שֶׁלֹּא כְּדַרְכָּהּ וְאֶחָד כְּדַרְכָּהּ,

one in an unnatural way and one in the natural way,

יֹאמְרוּ: בָּעַל פְּגוּמָה — חֲמִשִּׁים,

people will say: one who had a damaged girl pays fifty,

בָּעַל שְׁלֵמָה — חֲמִשִּׁים?

and one who had a whole girl pays fifty?

The steps (22)

  1. ProofA logical argument: the same fifty for a damaged and an undamaged girl cannot be fair
  2. Rejectionאביי rejects the logic: the תורה also fixes thirty for any slave
  3. Responseאביי's own source: 'because he tormented her'
  4. Responseרבא's different source: the fifty is for the pleasure of the act
  5. StatementThe defamer pays one hundred no matter who the girl is
  6. StatementSpeaking evil is worse than doing an act, proven from the desert
  7. ChallengeMaybe the bigger fine is because he could get her killed
  8. ResolutionThe פסוק says the fine is for the bad name itself
  9. ChallengeMaybe the spies' sin was just the last straw
  10. ResolutionThe word 'this' shows the sentence was sealed for this sin
  11. StatementA קל וחומר: bad talk about the land, and how much more about a person
  12. ChallengeMaybe the spies were punished for speaking against God
  13. ResolutionThe spies died for their bad report about the land
  14. Statementרבי יהודה lists the ten tests
  15. StatementThe first test at the sea: going down
  16. StatementThe second test at the sea: little faith coming out
  17. ProofThey feared the Egyptians were coming up on the other side
  18. StatementGod tells the sea to give back the Egyptians, and the sea objects
  19. Statementנחל קישון as guarantor, and the sea throws out the Egyptians
  20. StatementTwo tests over water: the first at מרה
  21. StatementThe second water test, at רפידים
  22. StatementTwo tests involving the manna