The law of the defamer is sometimes lenient and sometimes strict. How so? Whether he defamed a girl from among the best of the priestly stock or the humblest in Israel, he must pay one hundred <i>selaim</i>. Thus it turns out that one who speaks with one's mouth [is fined] more than one that commits an act. For thus we have also found that the judgment against our ancestors in the wilderness was sealed only because of their evil tongue, as it is written: “Yet you have tested Me these ten times, and you have not listened to My voice” (Numbers 14:22).
Bartenura on Mishnah Arakhin
נמצא האומר בפיו יתר מן העושה מעשה – the person who says: “I did not find her to be a virgin” gives/pays [a fine of] one-hundred [shekel] and he rapist [and seducer] who reveals her virginity through an action gives fifty [shekel].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Arakhin
Introduction
The final mishnah of this chapter refers to the “defamer,” one who falsely claims that a girl he married was not a virgin (see Deuteronomy 22: 13-22).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Arakhin
גזר דין – to not enter into the Land [of Israel].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Arakhin
The law of the defamer is sometimes lenient and sometimes strict. How so? Whether he defamed a girl from among the best of the priestly stock or the humblest in Israel, he must pay one hundred selas. The Torah sets a one hundred shekel fine for the defamer, no matter whether he defamed a girl from a good family or from a lesser family. Again, any time the Torah sets an amount, this will create a potential stringency and a potential leniency as well, depending on the actual circumstances.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Arakhin
זה עשר פעמים – this is written regarding the Spies (Numbers 14:22), that implies that their legal sentence was sealed on this (i.e., the evil report that they shared about the Promised Land when they returned from their forty-day spy mission).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Arakhin
Thus it turns out that he who speaks with his mouth suffers more than he that commits an act. Here the mishnah notes the paradox that a man who rapes or seduces a girl pays a fine of fifty shekels, whereas one who defames her pays double the amount. This is generalized into a value statement one who speaks against someone with his mouth can, at least at times, do more harm than one who acts out physically.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Arakhin
For thus we have also found that the judgment against our fathers in the wilderness was sealed only because of their evil tongue, as it is written: “Yet you have tested me these ten times, and you have not listened to My voice” (Numbers 14:22). The mishnah now midrashically connects this idea with the Israelites’ experience in the desert. After complaining to God about the report of the spies (see Numbers 14:1-3), God says that they have tested Him “ten times.” These ten times surely included not only the Israelites’ typical grumbling, but physical acts as well (for instance, worshipping the golden calf). Nevertheless, the terrible punishment that none of the adults who left Egypt would reach Canaan (save Caleb and Joshua) was not meted out until this instance. Furthermore, the following verse states, “All those who have vexed Me shall not see it (the land of Canaan).” This implies that the punishment was for verbally vexing God.
