You thought it couldn't get any worse...

[onionsoupmix]

After reading these three  Naarah Besulah chapters, it is very clear that rape was completely a civil matter back in the days of the Rambam and the only thing wrong was that the girl's virginity value was decreased. The punishment, therefore, for rape was a set of fines, payable to the girl's dad, of course, and forced marriage to the victim, if she and her father consent.

The possible fines included one for payment for virginal sex, one for embarrassment, one for damages and one for pain.

You can read these chapters yourself (1, 2, 3) , but here are some highlights:

• A rapist was not obligated to pay any fines unless there were witnesses to the act. Even his own admission does not render him liable.
• A rapist was not obligated to pay the virginal sex fine for anal rape.
• A rapist was not obligated to pay the virginal sex fine for any female over 12.5 or under 3.
• Embarrassment damages were not uniform. They were calculated according to the family's status. A poor, girl from a simple family was given less than a girl from "known lineage."
• Damages were given according to the girl's beauty, as assessed by the difference in her virginal and non-virginal value on a slave market.
• A man who rapes a mentally retarded girl or one who is deaf-mute, does not pay any of these fines for embarrasment or damages or virginal sex. All he pays is a fine for pain. If he will swear that she consented ( yes, the mentally retarded 3-to-12 year old), he can skip the pain fee also and is called a seducer and not a rapist, and has NO CONSEQUENCES at all.
• If the girl has a bad reputation or was pimped out by her father, the rapist also incurs no fines.

So. If you're still reading, here are my two questions.

1. If  I am a frum Jew living in 2009 and I know that this is the Jewish attitude towards rape, why on earth would I report a rapist or child molester to secular authorities ? Why would I do that when this is clearly seen as a financial issue, not a criminal one?

2. Why does chabad.org keep translating these rambams and posting them online? Shouldn't somebody give them a kick in the pants? Shouldn't they at least come up with a touchy-feely kabbalah-fluff explanation and post it online too?

I wonder if the women who author articles like this one for chabad.org know about these laws. The incongruence is too much.