If a man comes upon a virgin who is not engaged and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, the man who lay with her shall pay the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife. Because he has violated her he can never divorce her. – Deuteronomy 22 Note the Torah indicates that all willful actions have consequences. While circumstances have changed the basic premise of rape is inviolate: the act will never go away. As the scars remain with the woman so the perpetrator can never walk away or erase his actions. Maimonides in his Code refines this notion by explaining that the rapist acts out of a moment of control and enjoyment. Even if the man is technically not a rapist but one who seduced the woman he is obliged to pay the fine to teach the lesson that no act goes unrecorded, unnoticed, without consequences. Where rape is involved, the perpetrator must not only pay fifty shekels of silv...
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