Arachin 14: On the Valuation of People and Related Additional Payments

A note: Arachin (10-13) focus on music in the Temple.  This includes the Levites singing, their placement, their number and their ages, instruments permitted, in what number and their descriptions.

In today's daf, the rabbis bring us back to the valuation of people and the nature of penalty payments. Today a Mishna teaches us Masechet Shemot, where we discuss kenas, penalties paid to a woman's father when she is raped or seduced.  We also learned about payments of boshet, embarrassment, and pegam, loss of personal value, that are paid to her like they are paid in other assaults.  The standard kenas is 50 shekalim for all women, but the boshet and pegam decided on by the courts based on her status and the status of the perpetrator.  

Torah law requires the 50 shekelim payment.  Our Gemara states that we need to find prooftext for the requirement to bay boshet and pegam.  Rabbi Zeira teaches that we do not need the Torah law, as it is a logical argument that the daughter of a king and a girl from a simple family should receive the same amount of shekalim.  Abaye and Rava teach that some psukim, like Devarim (22:29), from which we learn that kenas is only payment for the inuy, the suffering, implying that other payments are also owed.  Abaye disagrees.  He teaches that other cases in the Torah show the kenas as identical in different situations even when the value of the individuals is different.  One example is when the goring ox's owner is obligated to pay 30 shekels to the owner of the slave whether the slave was trained to cut pearls, a very difficult job, or if he only knew how to mend simple garments.