ואיש אשר יקח את אחותו. במקום שאינם יודעים בו ואח״כ נודע הדבר: AND IF A MAN SHALL TAKE HIS SISTER, HIS FATHER’S DAUGHTER. In a place where he is unknown and afterwards the facts become known.49A person would not dare to marry a woman whom everyone knows to be his sister.
וטעם וראה את ערותה. או ראה כמו אביו ואמו קלל וראה כמו גלה: The meaning of and see50Hebrew, ve-ra’ah. her nakedness is, or see her nakedness.51Engage in intercourse outside of marriage (Krinsky). According to I.E. our verse is to be understood as follows: If a man marries his sister or has sexual intercourse with her outside of marriage. It is like he hath cursed his father or his mother (v. 9).52Hebrew, ve-et immo (literally, and his mother). Here the vav has the meaning of or. See I.E. on verse 9. See means uncover.
וטעם והיא תראה את ערותו. שהסכימו שניהם על זה: The meaning of and she see his nakedness is that they both agreed to this.
חסד הוא. מגזרת פן יחסדך שומע וטעמו תוספת בזנות: IT IS A SHAMEFUL THING. The word chesed (shameful thing) is related to yechassedkha (revile thee) in Lest he that heareth revile thee (Prov. 25:9). Chesed hu (it is a shameful thing) means it is an inflated act of harlotry.53Chesed usually has the meaning of an act of kindness, which is beyond the norm. Here it means an especially perverse evil act.
ערות אחתו גלה. באונס: HE HATH UNCOVERED HIS SISTER’S NAKEDNESS. Employing force.54Hence this additional clause.
עונו ישא. לבדו. וטעם להזכיר אלה הדברים באחות בעבור שגדלו יחד והם נערים משחקים וכל עת יתייחד עמה ולא הזכיר הכתוב עונש בת הבן או בת הבת כי סמך על תורה שבעל פה גם יתכן שלא הזכירם בעבור חוסר תאות האב כי הוא בא בימים הזמן שתהיה לו בת בוגרת ועל כן לא הזכיר הכתוב אם האב ואם האם כי הן זקנות: HE SHALL BEAR HIS INIQUITY. He alone shall bear his iniquity. The reason scripture mentions these things55Marriage, consensual intercourse outside of marriage, and rape. It does not mention all three with regard to the other prohibited relations. regarding the sister is that they grew up in one house and are young people who play. The brother is always alone with his sister. Scripture does not mention the punishment for intercourse with the daughter of one’s son or the daughter of one’s daughter, for it relied on the oral Torah.56See Sanhedrin 51a. It is possible that they are not mentioned because of the father’s lack of desire,57For his granddaughter. for he is advanced in years when he has a mature daughter. It is for this reason that Scripture does not mention the mother of one’s father and the mother of one’s mother, for they are aged.58Hence their grandsons have no desire to have intercourse with them.