Kommentar zu Arakhin 3:4

פגם – they estimate how much a person wants to give whether for a virgin maid-servant or a maid-servant who has already had sexual relations to marry her off to his male servant that he has gratification/satisfaction from.

Introduction Our mishnah deals with the rapist or seducer, topics discussed in Deuteronomy 22:28-29 and Exodus 22:15-16. As was the case with the warned ox, any time the Torah sets a fixed amount as a fine, the result can be lenient or strict.

לפי המבייש ומהתבייש – a disgraced person who is bashful, and the one upon whom the indignity is inflicted, according to the importance of his embarrassment (see also Tractate Ketubot, Chapter 3, Mishnah 7).

“The law of the rapist and seducer is sometimes lenient and sometimes strict.”
How so? Whether he raped or seduced a girl from among the best of the priestly stock or the humblest in Israel, he must pay fifty selas. Whether one rapes or seduces a girl from a good family, for instance a priestly family, or from a humble/poor family, he pays the father fifty selas as compensation. This fine is fixed no matter how much the girl is actually worth. It is interesting to note that unlike the case of evaluations or killing the slave, where the mishnah referred to the looks of the one evaluated or killed, here the mishnah refers to the family of the girl. This probably reveals quite a bit about marriage choices in mishnaic times. A girl’s worth was largely dependent upon her familial status and far less upon her individual personal characteristics. A girl from a good family was worth more in the eyes of the society than one from a lesser family. While this is not at all surprising, it is still interesting to note such concrete evidence of this social phenomenon.

But compensation for shaming and for blemish is in accord with the [circumstances] of him who shames and of the one who suffers the shame. Deuteronomy and Exodus refer only to a fine paid to the father by a man who rapes or seduces his daughter. The rabbis made an innovation that rape is to be treated also as a case of personal injury to the girl, and not just a loss to the father. A rapist is liable to pay not only a fine, but also compensation for shaming her and her family and for any blemish that occurred. In truth he is also liable to pay for her suffering and any loss of work. These amounts, unlike the fine, are not set by the Torah. When it comes to shaming, the payment depends upon the social status of the shamer and the person who was shamed. This halakhah is true in all cases of personal injury. For more information see Ketubot 3:7.