Hopefully the discussions of the defamed betrothed na’ara are more theoretical than common TB Ketubot 45-6

The Torah provides the punishments in the case of defamation, motzi shem r’a- מוֹצִיא שֵׁם רַע    for a betrothed na’ara, a girl between the age of 12 and 12 ½ years old. If the husband is lying, he is lashed, fined 100 shekels, and can’t divorce his wife. If indeed the betrothed girl committed adultery, she is stoned.

“A householder^*householder takes a woman [as his wife] and cohabits with her. Then he takes an aversion to her and makes up charges against her and defames her, saying, “This is the party I took [to wife]; but when I approached her, I found that she was not a virgin.”

“In such a case, the girl’s father and mother shall produce the evidence of the girl’s virginity before the elders of the town at the gate. And the girl’s father shall say to the elders, “To this party I gave my own daughter to wife, but he has taken an aversion to her; so he has made up charges, saying, ‘I did not find your daughter a virgin.’ But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” And they shall spread out the cloth before the elders of the town. The elders of that town shall then take that party and flog him, (ס) and they shall fine him a hundred [shekels of] silver and give it to the girl’s father; for [that householder] has defamed a virgin in Israel. Moreover, she shall remain his wife; he shall never have the right to divorce her.

“But if the charge proves true, the girl was found not to have been a virgin, ס) then the girl shall be brought out to the entrance of her father’s house, and her town’s council^*town’s council shall stone her to death; for she did a shameful thing in Israel, committing fornication while under her father’s authority. Thus you will sweep away evil from your midst.” (Deuteronomy 22:13-21, Sefaria.org translation)

Dappim TB Ketubot 45 and 46 spend a lot of time discussing issues surrounding capital punishment for this unfortunate girl if it is found to be true that she committed adultery. Hopefully, such cases were rare in Israel and a lot of this discussion is only theoretical. I also think the rabbis were trying their best to limit this bad outcome. First of all, they limited the window of opportunity in this case to six months alone. Secondly, all capital cases had to be adjudicated by Sanhedrin of 23 judges. Both the husband and the wife were able to bring witnesses to bolster their case. These witnesses were grilled. We shall learn “A Sanhedrin that puts a man to death once in seven years is called a murderous one. R. Eleazar ben Azariah says, 'Or even once in 70 years.' R. Tarfon and R. Akiva said, 'If we had been in the Sanhedrin, no death sentence would ever have been passed';” (TB Makkot 1:10) I take solace in this knowledge.

The places of stoning was some distance from the entrance of the parents’ house, the city gate, or the court. Even this distance was provided to help the condemned. “The Sages taught in a baraita: In the case of a betrothed young woman who committed adultery, one stones her at the entrance to her father’s house. If she does not have an entrance to her father’s house, one stones her at the entrance to the gate of that city. And in a city that is mostly populated by gentiles, where she cannot be stoned at the city entrance, one stones her at the entrance to the court.” (TB Ketubot 45b, Sefaria.org translation) Many Rishonim explained that this unfortunate girl is not stoned immediately in front of the court that sentenced her. Rebeinu Aharon Halevi in Shitah Mekubetzet explains the reason why the place of stoning is that some distance from the court. Perhaps (hopefully in my view) while the condemned is walking to the place of stoning, new witnesses will appear and exonerate her.

Of course this na’ara needs to be warned to be culpable. TB Ketubot 46 teaches that the defamer also needs to be warned. “The Gemara asks: From where do we derive the warning, i.e., the prohibition that serves as the source for the flogging for a defamer? Rabbi Elazar says that the prohibition is derived from the verse “You shall not go up and down as talebearer” (Leviticus 19:16). Rabbi Natan says that it is derived from: “Then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing [davar ra- דָּבָ֥ר רָֽע]” (Deuteronomy 23:10), which is expounded to mean dibbur ra- דִיבּוּר רָֽע, evil speech.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The next Mishna on today’s daf moves on to completely different topics. More about that tomorrow.