DANIEL SCHIFF

relations—presumably in the dark—with somebody(¥) that X believes to be his/her spouse. In actuality, Y turns out to be somebody other than the spouse.’ Although it is possible that Y might have planned the deception deliberately, it is also feasible —albeit remotely—that Y simply ended up in the wrong place, also believing him/herself to be together with his/her spouse.

Fourth is“consenting” adultery. When consenting adultery is committed—in contrast to unknowing adultery—the married partners involved are fully aware of the adultery, since they actually agree to it. Partner-swapping, or the practice of so-called“open marriage,” illustrates this form of adultery, in which the spouse of the adulterer has fully acquiesced.

Fifth is what might be termed“classic” adultery. This is the form of adultery most widely embarked upon and also the one most usually thought of when the term“adultery” is mentioned. Classic adultery may or may not be kept secret from the adulterer’s marital partner, but it is the kind of adultery that—if the partner were to be aware of it—would be seen on some level as a betrayal of the marital bond." Classic adultery can, of course, also include sex for money, so that prostitution, where one of the parties is married, is classic adultery.

The deep concern of Jewish tradition with all manner of adultery meant that the traditional halakhic approach never differ­entiated between varying kinds of adultery and did not, therefore, address the possibility that diverse consequences might be appropri­ate to the divergent forms of adultery: adultery was adultery. Whereas classic adultery consequently represented the primary pre­occupation of the proscriptions against adultery, other varieties of

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