[Avodah] Abuse and Halakhah

[Micha Berger]

The first in a series of posts hijacked from Areivim. -micha]

On Thu, Jun 07, 2012 at 12:05:06AM +0300, Doron Beckerman wrote to Areivim:
: There is a problem. It is rather large. We know that there is tremendous
: emotional devastation caused by sexual abuse, but, I tread lightly here,
: that attitude is not expressed with any kind of force or conviction by
: Chazal....

: One might even say that the Mishnah is saying no Chiddush, merely mirroring
: the Torah's - G-d Almighty Himself's - attitude of how to weigh the issues
: of Hotza'as Shem Ra versus rape  of a virgin girl - and He doubled down on
: Hotza'as Shem Ra.

It's an attack, and therefore I would think there would be all 5 payments.
Nezeq is the loss of besulim. But I think in today's world, tzaar,
boshes and ripui would be far greater. My line of reasoning:

Possibly in Chazal's day, living under the Romans or Sassanids (the
"2nd Persian Empire") made violation more common, and perhaps it was
therefore less psychologically traumatic.

I'm thinking of the way the death of my daughter was and still is
earth-shatering, but just a couple of generations ago, when infant
mortality was more commmon, people apparently managed. Psychological
trauma and the need for refu'as hanefesh (beyond refu'as haguf) appears
to partly be a function of expectation.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man is capable of changing the world for the
micha at aishdas.org        better if possible, and of changing himself for
http://www.aishdas.org   the better if necessary.
Fax: (270) 514-1507            - Victor Frankl, Man's search for Meaning