To the editor:

Since I have not seen another letter correcting a problem in the otherwise excellent letter to the editor by Lynne Stahl (Feb. 22), I feel a need as someone familiar with the Hebrew original to bring this up. The Hebrew word in Deuteronomy 22:28 is “Tofsah,” best translated as “seduced her” and should be contrasted with the Hebrew term in verse 25 “Hechezik ba,” which does mean “raped her.” The point in verse 28 is that a man has seduced a woman so that she already loves him. He is then forced to be her protector for life. That is a very different situation than the matter of rape in which (as v. 27 makes clear) the woman is thought to be unwilling.

S. Daniel Breslauer,

Lawrence