Q&A: If a pursued woman killed her attacker, should she sit in prison?
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
If a pursued woman killed her attacker, should she sit in prison?
Question
A woman was being pursued to be raped and killed the pursuer.
Seemingly, she acted according to the law.
[There was no time to save herself by injuring one of his limbs, and even if there had been time, there are opinions among the medieval authorities (Rishonim) that saving by injuring one of his limbs applies only to a third party, but for the pursued person everything is permitted.]
Why does she sit in prison?
Answer
I didn’t understand anything. Who said she is supposed to sit in prison, and where do you see prison at all in Jewish law?
Discussion on Answer
Noam, blessed are you for having aimed correctly.
It seems to me that maybe he meant to ask in connection with a current event from this week (not that I understood the question).
Dana Spector:
“This week I interviewed Natalie Asihan the queen. She was raped at age 16 by a strange man in her neighborhood; he was in the country illegally. Two months later this son of Satan’s discharge came to rape her again and she killed him. The merciful court gave her six years. The rapist probably also would have gotten 6. Six months of community service.”