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Arakhin 15 for kids: Words Have Power

ערכין ט״ו

🗣️ This daf asks why spreading a bad name is so serious. It also looks at how the way we say something can change its meaning.

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Stories from Arakhin 15

Words to know

Rashi and Tosafot on Arakhin 15 in simple English

Rashi on Arakhin 15a, in English Tab translation (15)
  1. If two men had intercourse with her, the first in an atypical manner — and the second then had vaginal intercourse with her, she was still a virgin, so the second man owes the fine. People might ask why someone who violated a tainted girl pays fifty sela, just as someone who violated an untouched virgin does. But their payments for humiliation differ: he pays more for the untouched virgin.
  2. Afflicted with boils — and thus impaired, like a girl who has had anal intercourse.
  3. Because he tormented her — the verse begins, “The man who lay with her shall give the young woman’s father fifty silver shekels.” This indicates that the fifty shekels are the fine for the violation. The wording implies that he also owes other payments, such as for humiliation and loss of value, which can occur even without torment. Loss of value means she is worth less than before.
  4. The mishna: It follows that one who speaks is treated more severely — a defamer pays one hundred sela, while one who acts by raping a virgin pays only fifty.
  5. The sentence — that they would not enter the Land of Israel.
  6. These ten times — this is written in the account of the spies and implies that the sentence was sealed because of this incident.
  7. The Gemara: How do we know — that speech is treated more severely, meaning that he pays solely for slander? Perhaps this slander is treated more severely because it could cause her death.
  8. For defaming her — solely because of the slander.
  9. In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits — when his measure is filled with many sins, distress comes upon him.
  10. Because of this the sentence was sealed — not because this sin was added to the others.
  11. The master — the Holy One, blessed be He.
  12. For the slander they spread about the land — it says that this is why they died.
  13. Defiant — rebellious.
  14. That his master gives him a gift — food for the fish.
  15. One and a half times as many — of Pharaoh it says “six hundred chariots,” and of Sisera it says “nine hundred chariots.”
Tosafot on Arakhin 15a, in English Tab translation (4)
  1. If two men had intercourse with her, one in the usual manner and one in an unusual manner — Rashi explains that the first had anal intercourse with her and the second had vaginal intercourse. She was still a virgin, so the second man owes the fine. People would then say: The man who had intercourse with a woman already tainted, whose humiliation was therefore less, pays fifty sela, while a man who has intercourse with an untouched virgin also pays only fifty. But elsewhere Rashi explains that liability for the fine requires breaking the hymen. That cannot be right: the Talmud discusses ten men who had intercourse with a woman while she remained a virgin, meaning they had anal intercourse, and Rabbi Zeira says that Rabbi agrees they all owe the fine. Rabbi Yitzhak therefore explains the comparison differently: the second man, who had intercourse with a tainted woman, pays fifty, and the first, who had anal intercourse with her while she was untouched, also pays fifty. On either explanation, the man who had anal intercourse must have been first, though some texts say that the man who had intercourse in the usual manner was first. A slight difficulty with Rabbi Yitzhak’s explanation is that the Gemara could instead have spoken of two men who both had anal intercourse with her.
  2. Do not read ‘stronger than us’ but ‘stronger than Him’ — This has been explained as a distinction between pronouncing the word with a soft consonant and with a doubled consonant. But that cannot be right: every occurrence of this word in the Torah has the doubled consonant, so the two readings cannot be distinguished that way. The Sifrei similarly says, ‘It does not say “his vigor had not fled,” but “and his vigor had not fled.”’
  3. Just as we are coming up on this side, so the Egyptians are coming up on the other side — How could that generation have so little faith as to think God would perform a miracle to bring the Egyptians across the sea? Rabbi Yitzhak, citing his father Rabbi Shmuel, explains that the Israelites did not cross the sea from one shore to the opposite shore; had they done so, they would have advanced toward the Land of Israel. Instead, with Egyptians on either side of them, they crossed a strip of sea lengthwise and emerged farther along, where they could turn into the wilderness. They feared that, just as they were entering the wilderness from one side, the Egyptians might come around through it from the other side and catch them—not that the Egyptians would cross the sea. This also explains how, after leaving Marah, they could later camp by the Red Sea: they had not crossed to its opposite shore and then doubled back. Rather, their route curved along the sea, roughly like a semicircle, and they later reached its shore again. On this account, Egypt lay southwest of the Land of Israel, the Nile separated them, and the sea ran east to west south of Egypt. The Israelites first reached the sea’s northern shore, then emerged farther along, south of Edom and east of Egypt. After some days they reached Marah and were still near the sea. To enter the Land of Israel, they did not need to cross it again; they went around Edom and Moab, south of the Land of Israel and east of Egypt.
  4. One and a half times as many as theirs — Egypt had six hundred chosen chariots, while Sisera had nine hundred. Although Scripture also mentions ‘all the chariots of Egypt,’ the comparison counts only the chariots of Egypt’s officers, with others accompanying the six hundred; kings likewise accompanied Sisera’s nine hundred iron chariots. The comparison is not concerned with which side had more soldiers.
Rashi on Arakhin 15b, in English Tab translation (21)
  1. Do not go out — on the Sabbath to gather manna.
  2. The first quail — when the manna first began to fall, quail came with it, as it says: “In the evening the quail came up,” and “in the morning there was a layer of dew” (Exodus 16:13). Much later, the people craved meat again.
  3. In the wilderness of Paran — the incident of the spies.
  4. Of bone — the teeth.
  5. What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done for you? — What further safeguard could the Holy One, blessed be He, give you to keep you from speaking maliciously?
  6. Who say, “We will make our tongue mighty” — they speak as though saying, “Who is lord over us?” They deny the fundamental belief in God.
  7. A confirmed leper — thus “I will destroy,” which is translated with a term meaning “confirmed,” refers to leprosy.
  8. Him I cannot endure — earlier in this verse it says, “Whoever defames his neighbor in secret.”
  9. Concerning the arrogant — this relates to Rav Hisda’s teaching, since the verse containing “him I cannot endure” also says “haughty of eye.”
  10. We will judge him — this is the reading of the text.
  11. And perversity in it — one who uses the tongue perversely and wants to rid himself of that failing should humble his spirit.
  12. Cut him off — an expression of being cut off.
  13. Which of them do you exclude? — “Great” is written concerning each of the three sins, so all three are included.
  14. A third tongue — the gossip’s tongue, which comes between two people to reveal one person’s secret to the other.
  15. The speaker himself — the resulting quarrel leads the two people to kill each other, and the avengers of blood kill the gossip, since he caused the deaths.
  16. One who wants to die by his tongue — should engage in foolish and obscene talk.
  17. One who wants to live by his tongue — should study Torah.
  18. Fire in so-and-so’s house — this implies that he is wealthy and always has a fire for cooking.
  19. It is merely revealing information — he is not speaking maliciously, but telling people seeking a light, “Go to so-and-so’s house.”
  20. That is said in the subject’s presence — the gossip says it in front of the person he is speaking about.
  21. And I looked behind me — to see who was standing there, because I would say it even in the subject’s presence. Thus it is not considered malicious speech. Alternatively, if the subject asked, “Why did you say that?” I did not deny saying it but admitted it to their face.
Tosafot on Arakhin 15b, in English Tab translation (3)
  1. They craved a craving — Rashi explains that they craved more, implying that the quail had not stopped coming. Rabbi Yosef Kara explains that the first supply of quail had stopped; the mixed multitude craved it because they had none, and a second supply came down.
  2. And Reish Lakish said, ‘This shall be the law of the leper’—the law of one who defames — The text should read ‘Reish Lakish said,’ without ‘and,’ since Reish Lakish has not spoken earlier.
  3. A third tongue — Rashi explains: the tongue of a third party, a gossip who reveals a secret. I found another explanation in writing: the tongue is third because the Holy One, blessed be He, surrounded it with one wall of bone and one of flesh, with the tongue between them.

Sources

Kid summary and story cards written by Tab from the William Davidson Edition English (Sefaria, CC BY-NC 4.0).

Tab translation (machine-assisted) of Rashi and Tosafot, from the Vilna Edition Hebrew (public domain) on Sefaria. May contain mistakes.

In the app, the Gemara text comes from Sefaria (William Davidson Edition, CC BY-NC 4.0; Hebrew/Aramaic Vilna Edition). Rashi and Tosafot Hebrew: Vilna Edition (public domain) via Sefaria.

Also spelled: Arachin, Erchin 15.