In its frank tone, there are some very, well, point-blank parts of Torah regarding prohibited sexual acts which even my commentary doesn't have the guts to address - especially regarding the "garment" which is proof of a woman's chastity.
But there is also a fascinating section, a section which shows us the Torah's ancient wisdom, a wisdom which is only being re-discovered today - which is that if there is a sexual assault in a remote place, and there are no witnesses, and no one to essentially hear or verify whether the act was consensual or not, the woman is automatically and without question believed - that the sexual assault occurred and that the perpetrator should be punished through a monetary payment and forced marriage.
Well, at least everything sounded good to a modern sensibility had I stopped at "punished" in the sentence above. What about said punishment only being for money and a marriage...to the victim? How in the world does that make sense?
While there are no easy answers to this, the fact is that even thousands of years ago, the Torah, unquestioningly, was speaking the modern phrase of "believe women." And the fact that there were no witnesses, while this means the perpetrator does not receive the death penalty (see Shoftim, last week, for a discussion of the necessity of "two or three witnesses" for capital crimes), there is no follow-up, no cross-examination, no credibility, no nothing - the victim is outright believed. And if the perpetrator somehow is unjustly punished - well, you can fill in the blanks. Perhaps the result is what's described a few verses earlier regarding falling off a roof.
These are difficult issues with which to wrestle, and I may return to them at some point, but I always want to highlight the utter compassion of the Torah when it comes to caring for the livelihood of another. The first verse in this aliyah concerns the need to put a fence around one's roof, to prevent falls. This is a safety feature I've actually never seen on any house - but it sure would make sense, and I wonder why we don't see it more. Regardless of its current existence, the sheer concern for the wellbeing of another - going out of one's way to make safe one's own house - this is the kind of mentality we are desperately missing today. The care and concern for one another, and that another should not die if such act was preventable. Just any modicum of care and concern for another life - it's so sad, and such a statement on our society that I have to plead for this today, is so plainly said in the mitzvah of a home safety feature, and something we need to infuse more of into society today.
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