Q&A: Trespassing Against One’s Wife
Trespassing Against One’s Wife
Question
Have a good week, Rabbi,
Following up on the last lecture, we learned that the episode of Shechem and Dinah contained an element of trespassing against Jacob. If so, would it be correct to say that nowadays a man who cheats on his wife with another woman is trespassing against his wife? That is, I assume that this kind of trespass exists only where there is ownership in some sense. If Jacob was the owner of Dinah’s sexuality as her father, then seemingly ownership over sexuality is a function of social convention. And therefore nowadays, when it is accepted that the “ownership” of sexuality is mutual (the man is the owner of the woman and the woman is the owner of the man in the sexual sphere), would a guilt-offering be required when a married man sleeps with an unmarried woman who is ritually pure (setting aside the problem of promiscuity in the example)?
Answer
I agree with the moral principle, but I am doubtful about the conclusion regarding liability for a guilt-offering. Not every moral prohibition entails a guilt-offering, only encroachment into a domain that is not mine. True, we saw that a halakhic prohibition is not required for this (see my article here, “What Is a Guilt-Offering”), but the criterion for this is not clear to me. You may be right.