EXOD441 Adultery and Other Betrayals. Of course, the prohibition against adultery is one of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” (Exodus 20:13,14; Deuteronomy 5:17,18). Then there are things that technically may not be adultery but are surely a betrayal of the “covenant” of marriage: a woman has phone sex or Internet sex with another man, for example, or a man is physical with another woman but without intercourse. From a strictly legal standpoint, these do not constitute adultery in Jewish law because there was no penetration involved. However, there is a verse of great significance, proclaimed by the last of the Hebrew prophets: “Because the Lord is a witness between you and the wife of your youth with whom you have broken faith, though she is your partner and your covenanted spouse” (Malachi 2:14). Betrayal is about more than what is included in the narrow definition of adultery. When two people enter into a covenant of marriage and pledge themselves to each other, they do not have in mind the narrow definition of adultery (i.e., penetration) as the only thing that will undermine their relationship. They are pledging themselves to a loving relationship that is both physically and emotionally monogamous. A long-term relationship between two unmarried people cannot technically involve adultery, for that legal category applies only to married couples. But such relationships can most definitely involve betrayal: the betrayal of the commitment partners have made to each other through their words and their actions. And such betrayal is roundly condemned by the Jewish tradition. Judaism demands that we make our commitments clear and then honor them. (By Uzi Weingarten)