Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah

Sforno on Deuteronomy 22:26/ספורנו על דברים כ״ב:כ״ו

אאֵין לַנַּעֲרָה חֵטְא מָוֶת. אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁהָיָה סוֹפָהּ בְּרָצוֹן, כֵּיוָן שֶׁהָיְתָה תְּחִלָּתָהּ בְּאֹנֶס פְּטוּרָה, שֶׁכֵּיוָן שֶׁהִתְחִילָה בְּאִסּוּר יִצְרָהּ אֲנָסָהּ, כְּאָמְרָם זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה (כתובות נא) ״אֲפִילּוּ אוֹמֶרֶת הַנִּיחוּ לוֹ כוּ׳״.
1אין לנערה חטא מות, even though in the end she stopped resisting, i.e. she became a willing partner; seeing that initially she had been forced she is exonerated by judicial prosecution. Our sages go so far as to state “even if she said that had she not been forced she would have hired the man in question to sleep with her,” (Ketuvot 51) [the rapist kindled her libido so that she lost control over her emotions. Ed.]
בכִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר יָקוּם אִישׁ עַל רֵעֵהוּ וְגוֹ׳. אֵין זֶה כְּעִנְיַן הַבְּהֵמָה הַנִּרְבַּעַת שֶׁכָּתוּב בָּהּ ״וְאֶת הַבְּהֵמָה תַּהֲרֹגוּ״ (ויקרא כ:טו), כִּי אָמְנָם הַבְּהֵמָה לֹא הִתְקוֹמְמָה כְּלָל, אֲבָל זוֹ שֶׁהָיְתָה תְּחִלָּתָהּ בְּאֹנֶס וְהִתְקוֹמְמָה כְּפִי יְכָלְתָּהּ, הִנֵּה קָרָה לָהּ כְּמוֹ שֶׁקָּרָה לַנִּרְצָח שֶׁנֶּעֱבְדָה בּוֹ עֲבֵרָה נֶגֶד רְצוֹנוֹ, לְפִיכָךְ אֵין לָהּ בַּחֵטְא עִנְיָן כְּלָל.
2'כי כאשר יקום איש על רעהו וגו, this situation is not comparable to someone having sexual intercourse with a beast when the Torah condemns the “innocent” beast to share the death penalty with the human being. (Leviticus 20,15). The difference is that the animal in question did not offer any resistance at all, whereas the woman in question in our verse initially did offer resistance. What happened to her is comparable to a murdered person who had been forced to commit a sin and who was murdered for having refused to do so.