4. Is it probable that a seris hamah could be healed in accordance with Rabbi Eliezer 's teaching in the Mishnah ?
One of the categories of hormone malfunctioning explained above appears to fit this case as well as the Talmudic description of the seris hamah. We have seen above that a person suffering from 17 beta-HSD or 5 alpha-reductase deficiency would appear to fit Nahum's case history:
1. In this disorder, children are born with a micro-phallus and may or may not have visible testes. They are often thought to be female at birth, however, at puberty, they develop the characteristics of unaffected males: a deep voice, pubic and axillary hair, and male sexual identity. Their penis is enlarged to child-size after puberty, while their skin remains relatively smooth and childlike without a beard.
Abraham Nahum was reported to have had a micro phallus as a small child which is a symptom of this disorder, although it is not listed in the Talmud as a characteristic of a seris hamah. We have noted that Talmudic sages gave no description of his genitalia, but Nahum's condition was considered by the community to have been that of a saris. The responsa mention that he had skin as smooth as a woman's and no trace of a beard. This might have indicated his being a seris hamah, but we have no report, one way or the other, of the above mentioned secondary sexual characteristics, such as pubic hair and a male voice, which might well have been contraindicative. R. Palache and his be din noted that no examination was made by an expert. We, too, cannot determine without any reported evidence whether or not he may have developed the other characteristics of 17 beta-HSD or 5 alpha- reductase deficiency.
We have noted that village authorities had no objection to Nahum marrying, because he was still an adolescent and not dissimilar to others of his age who had married and fathered children. Since we do not have sufficient empirical evidence, we must agree with R. Palache that it would be impossible
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