32 Selected Reform Responsa

day for boys. However there was some concern also expressed earlier.

If the physical signs of maturity were absent from a man or a woman, they were not considered adults until they had reached the age of twenty, according to Beit Shammai(Nid. 5.9, 47b; Yev. 96b; Shulhan Arukh, Even Ha-ezer 155.12). If a eunuch shows the normal physical signs of maturity, then he becomes an adult at thirteen. Nowadays, any male is presumed to have reached his majority at thirteen, a process that began in gaonic times(She-iltot, Behukotai 116; Akiva Eger , Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim 615.2).

In addition to sexuality at the time of maturity, the Talmud also concerned itself with the beginnings of sexuality at a much earlier age, for it felt that a girl attained an initial degree of sexuality at age three, and a boy at nine. For these reasons various laws which dealt with sexual relationships were in force for minors. Such a young girl could, for example, be acquired as a wife through sexual relations; if she was sexually violated at this early age by an adult, the normal punishments were in effect. The sexual acts of males nine years old and above were also considered as those of an adult(Nida 5.5ff). A girl could also be betrothed at this early age, and there was a special simplified form of separation(me-un— refusal) which would be exercised to annul such an early betrothal or that she could use to refuse such a marriage. Before the age of ten me-un might be used for annulment, but was not strictly necessary(Yev. 107ab; Yad, Gerushin XI.3; Shulhan Arukh, Even Haezer 155.3). The father possessed the right to give his minor daughter in marriage with or without her consent(Ket. 46b; Kid . 41a). There was some debate whether a girl in this stage of na-arah could contract her own marriage, as she was completely subject to her father(Kid . 43b and 44a); but it is quite certain that once she had reached the stage of hogeref, she was independent and could contract her own obligations(Nida 5.7). In the Middle Ages, strong protests against child marriages were raised (Judah Mintz, Responsa,#13; Isserles to Shulhan Arukh, Even Ha-ezer, who quotes Jacob Pollock, etc.).

This decision and the considerable detail provided by the Talmud on early sexuality before betrothal, weddings, seduction, and rape, show that these laws are far from theoretical, but representative of an actual concern on the part of the rabbinic tradition. They are discussed to a