SEPARATING THE ADULT FROM ADULTERY
etched in stone, the fate that awaited the adulterer underwent a profound transition. In the biblical period, an individual acknowledged as guilty of adultery faced either threat of death or some of the severest punishments available in life.* Three millennia later, it has become possible for a modern Jew, while remaining within the Jewish community, to commit adultery and still pursue a successful career, further intimate relationships, and maintain positions of leadership. Attitudes to adultery have plainly changed to such an extent for most Jews that it is inconceivable that any responsible formulation of Jewish public policy could advocate a return to speaking of adultery as a capital crime. The issue, then, with which contemporary Judaism must grapple, is the manner in which Jewish public policy on adultery ought to be formulated in a society that regrets but does little to discourage adultery and in which Jewish law can no longer mandate the imposition of its will. If the historical understanding of the resounding implications of adultery, engraved at the heart of the Ten Commandments , continues to hold true within our current ethos, how might a progressive halakhah respond appropriately to adultery using the available tools of the Jewish legal system?
THE CONTEMPORARY PARAMETERS OF ADULTERY
A coherent reply to these questions requires some analysis of the extent and nature of present-day adultery. Today, an adulterous relationship is generally—though not always Jewishly’— defined as a voluntary sexual relationship between two parties, at least one of whom is married to someone else.® A sexual encounter of this kind constitutes adultery if it happens just once in a lifetime or if it takes the form of a continuing interaction.
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