Pt2 Trending Talmud: Top Queries, Popular Posts, and Plain Readings of Controversial Talmudic Passages

(Re-sent this post; it didn’t send this morning to email due to technical issues relating to Substack and widespread internet issues.)

This is the second part of a three-part series. Part 1 is here; the outline of the series can be found at Part 1.

Intro to Ages of Sexual Maturity and Legal Status in the relevant Talmudic passages

The passages from Niddah, Yevamot, and Avodah Zarah codify precise thresholds of sexual and ritual maturity for boys and girls, combining legal, biological, and moral reasoning within halakhic discourse. Across these passages, sexual capacity—defined by age thresholds, not desire or consent—determines legal, ritual, and moral status, shaping halakhic conceptions of purity, priesthood, and punishment.

The Mishnah (Niddah 44b–45a) defines a girl of three years and one day as fit for intercourse in the full legal sense: intercourse effects betrothal, establishes levirate marriage (yibbum), and renders her an adulteress if she lies with another man. She and her partner incur ritual impurity “to defile lower bedding as upper,” paralleling menstruation impurity. A priest’s wife of that age may eat terumah; intercourse with a man disqualified from the priesthood (e.g. ḥalal, mamzer) disqualifies her. Intercourse by Torah-forbidden relations (e.g. father, father-in-law) brings capital punishment upon the adult alone, for she, being a minor, is exempt.

The corresponding Mishnah for boys sets the critical age at 9.¹ Such a boy’s intercourse has full legal effect: it consummates yibbum, though he cannot issue a get until maturity. He transmits impurity like a menstruant, disqualifies but cannot enable a priestly wife for terumah, and sexual relations with him can invalidate sacrificial animals and incur execution for adult partners.

A baraita recounts Justina (Yustini), daughter of the Roman emperor Asveirus ben Antoninus, who questioned R. Yehuda ha-Nasi about the proper ages for marriage (age 3) and fertility (age 12). She claimed to have married at six and birthed at age 7, lamenting “3 lost years.”

The Talmud contrasts her boast with a teaching that minors, pregnant, and nursing women may use a contraceptive cloth (mukh); R. Meir defines the endangered “minor” as ages 11–12, while others rely on divine mercy (“YHWH preserves the simple,” Ps 116:6).

To reconcile the contradiction, the Talmud suggests either that Justina, as a non-Jew, differed physically (“their flesh is the flesh of donkeys,” Ez 23:20) or that she lied (“whose mouth speaks falsehood,” Ps 144:8).²

Another baraita tells of a woman before R. Akiva who said she was deflowered before age three and asked about priestly eligibility. He ruled her fit; when she hinted by parable (“a child’s finger dipped in honey”) that later relations were consensual, he declared her unfit—though, the Talmud glosses, only “to sharpen his students,” since the halakha from Sinai deems intercourse before age three legally null.

In Yevamot 60b, the slaughter of Midianite captives (Num 31) is read to hinge on physiological capacity rather than sexual history: “Every woman who has known man” means “fit for intercourse.” The test, said R. Huna b. Bizna in R. Shimon Ḥasida’s name, used the High Priest’s frontplate (tzitz)—faces turning sallow marked sexual maturity. Rav Naḥman generalized: a sallow face (hydrokan, edema) signifies sexual sin.

For the virgins of Jabesh-gilead (in Judges 21),³ Rav Kahana proposed a wine-jug test: a non-virgin’s breath smelled of wine, a virgin’s did not. The tzitz, however, could not be used for Jews in punitive fashion (“for acceptance, not calamity,” Ex 28:38), though Rav Ashi allowed its use on non-Jews.⁴

Finally, Avodah Zarah 36b–37a records a chain of inquiry—from R. Zeira through R. Asi, R. Yohanan, R. Yannai, R. Natan b. Amram, to R. Yehuda ha-Nasi—asking from what age a male non-Jew transmits impurity of ziva (sexual discharge). R. Yehuda ha-Nasi first said “from one day,” but accepted R. Ḥiyya’s correction: from age 9, since that is the age “fit for intercourse.” Ravina extended the logic: a female non-Jew from age 3 likewise imparts such impurity.

Legal Sexual Maturity: Girl - at age 3; Boy - at age 9 (Sanhedrin 55b = Niddah 44b-45a / Mishnah Niddah 5:4-5)

Sanhedrin.55b.4-10 (=Mishnah_Niddah.5.4-5 / Niddah.44b.9-12 , Niddah.45a.19-21)

The Talmud cites the Mishnah which defines minimal sexual maturity as 3 years for a girl, 9 for a boy, both capable of legally effective sexual intercourse but still minors exempt from punishment.

Table summarizing:

בת שלש שנים ויום אחד --

1. מתקדשת בביאה,

2. ואם בא עליה יבם --

   1. קנאה,

3. וחייבין עליה משום אשת איש.

4. ומטמאה את בועלה,

   1. לטמא משכב תחתון כעליון.

5. ניסת לכהן –

   1. אוכלת בתרומה.

6. בא עליה אחד מן הפסולים –

   1. פסלה מן הכהונה.

7. ואם בא עליה אחד מכל העריות האמורות בתורה --

   1. מומתין על ידה, והיא פטורה.

[...]

a Mishnah (Nidda 44b): A girl who is 3 years and one day old --

1. whose father arranged her betrothal is betrothed with sex,⁵ as the legal status of sex with her is that of full-fledged sex.

2. And in a case where the childless husband of a girl who is 3 years and one day old dies, if his brother, the yavam, has sex with her --

   1. he acquires her as his wife;

3. and if she is married, a man other than her husband is liable for having sex with her due to the prohibition of sex with a married woman.

4. And if she is impure due to menstruation, she transmits impurity to one who has sex with her,

   1. who then renders all the items designated for lying beneath him impure like the items designated for lying above him.

5. If she marries a priest --

   1. she may partake of teruma like any other wife of a priest.

6. If she is unmarried and one of the men who are unfit for the priesthood, e.g., a mamzer or ḥalal, has sex with her --

   1. he has disqualified her from marrying into the priesthood, and if she is the daughter of a priest, she is disqualified from partaking of teruma.

7. And if one of any of those with whom relations are forbidden, who are stated in the Torah, had sex with her, e.g., her father or father-in-law --

   1. they are executed by the court for having sex with her, and she is exempt because she is a minor.

[...]

בן תשע שנים ויום אחד --

1. הבא על יבמתו –

   1. קנאה,

   2. ואינו נותן גט עד שיגדיל.

2. ומטמא כנדה

   1. לטמא משכב תחתון כעליון.

3. פוסל ואינו מאכיל,

4. ופוסל את הבהמה מעל גבי המזבח, ונסקלת על ידו.

5. ואם בא על אחת מכל העריות האמורות בתורה --

   1. מומתים על ידו.

the subsequent Mishnah (Nidda 45a): With regard to a boy who is 9 years and one day old --

1. whose brother died childless, and who had sex with his yevama, his brother’s widow --

   1. the status of the sex is that of full-fledged sex and he has acquired her as his wife,

   2. but if he chooses to end the marriage, he cannot give her a bill of divorce until he reaches majority.

2. And he becomes ritually impure like a menstruating woman after having sex with her,

   1. and then renders all the items designated for lying beneath him impure like the items designated for lying above him.

3. If he is disqualified from the priesthood and has sex with the daughter of a priest, he disqualifies her from partaking of teruma; but if he is a priest who marries an Israelite woman, he does not enable her to partake of teruma.

4. And if he has sex with an animal, he disqualifies the animal from being sacrificed upon the altar, and the animal is stoned on the basis of sex with him.

5. And if he had sex with one of any of those with whom relations are forbidden, who are stated in the Torah --

   1. they are executed by the court on the basis of sex with him, but he is exempt.

The Ages of Female Sexual Maturity and Ability to Give Birth (Niddah 45a)

Niddah.45a.9-18

Anecdote of Justina and R’ Yehuda HaNasi

A baraita recounts that Justina,⁶ daughter of Severus (אסוירוס), son of Antoninus,⁷ asked R’ Yehuda HaNasi at what age a woman is fit to marry.

He answered: at age 3.

When she asked the age of fertility, he said at age 12.

She replied that she had married at age 6 and given birth at age 7, lamenting the 3 “lost” years between sexual maturity and marriage.

תנו רבנן:

מעשה ביוסטני, בתו של אסוירוס בן אנטנינוס, שבאת לפני רבי.

אמרה לו:

רבי!

אשה בכמה ניסת?

אמר לה: בת שלש שנים ויום אחד.

ובכמה מתעברת?

אמר לה: בת שתים עשרה שנה ויום אחד.

אמרה לו:

אני —

• נשאתי בשש,

• וילדתי בשבע.

אוי לשלש שנים שאבדתי בבית אבא!

§ A baraita states:

There was an incident involving a non-Jewish woman called Yusteni, the daughter of Asveirus, son of Antoninus, a Roman emperor, who came before R’ Yehuda HaNasi.

She said to him:

My teacher!

at what age is a woman fit to marry?

i.e., at what age is it appropriate for a woman to have sex, which would therefore be the appropriate time to marry?

R’ Yehuda HaNasi said to her: She must be at least 3 years and one day old.

Yusteni further inquired: And at what age is she fit to become pregnant?

R’ Yehuda HaNasi said to her: When she is at least 12 years and one day old.

She said to him:

I —

• married when I was age 6,

• and gave birth a year later, when I was age 7.

Woe for those 3 years, between the age of 3, when I was fit for sex, and the age of 6, when I married, as I wasted those years in my father’s house by not having sex.

Baraita - minor, pregnant, and nursing women are permitted to use a contraceptive cloth

The Talmud questions Yusteni’s claim based on another baraita allowing three women to use a contraceptive cloth (מוך):

1. A minor may do so lest she become pregnant and die.

2. a pregnant woman -- lest her (current) fetus become deformed into the shape of a sandal.⁸

3. a nursing woman -- lest she become pregnant and her milk dry up, in which case she weans her son too early, thereby endangering him, and he dies.

ומי מעברה?

והתני רב ביבי קמיה דרב נחמן:

שלש נשים משמשות במוך:

1. קטנה,

2. מעוברת,

3. ומניקה.

1. קטנה —

   1. שמא תתעבר ותמות;

2. מעוברת —

   1. שמא תעשה עוברה סנדל;

3. מניקה —

   1. שמא תגמול את בנה וימות.

The Talmud asks: And can a minor of that age become pregnant?

But didn’t Rav Beivai teach a baraita before Rav Naḥman:

Three women may have sex while using a contraceptive absorbent cloth, a soft fabric placed at the entrance to the womb to prevent conception, despite the fact that this practice generally is prohibited:

They are:

1. a minor;

2. a pregnant woman;

3. and a nursing woman.

The baraita specifies the reason for allowing these women to use contraceptive absorbent cloths:

1. A minor --

   1. lest she become pregnant and perhaps die from this pregnancy;

2. a pregnant woman --

   1. lest she be impregnated a second time and her older fetus become deformed into the shape of a sandal (סנדל - from Latin) fish, by being squashed by the pressure of the second fetus;

3. and a nursing woman --

   1. lest she become pregnant and her milk dry up, in which case she weans her son too early, thereby endangering him, and he dies.

R’ Meir defines the minor as between age 11 and 12; younger girls, he says, face no risk because they cannot conceive

ואיזוהי קטנה?

מבת אחת עשרה שנה ויום אחד ועד שתים עשרה שנה ויום אחד.

פחות מכאן, או יתר על כן —

משמשת [כדרכה] והולכת, דברי רבי מאיר.

The baraita continues: And who is considered a minor?

It is a girl from the age of 11 years and one day until the age of 12 years and one day.

If she was younger than that or older than that --

she may go ahead and have sex in her usual manner, i.e., without contraception.

This is the statement of R’ Meir.

Since it is assumed that a minor who is less than 11 years old cannot become pregnant, she is considered to be in no danger.

The (majority) Rabbis disagree, saying all may have sex without precaution, trusting divine mercy (“YHWH preserves the simple,” Psalms 116:6)

וחכמים אומרים:

אחת זו ואחת זו --

משמשת כדרכה והולכת,

ומן השמים ירחמו,

שנאמר ״שומר פתאים ה׳״!

And the Rabbis say:

Both in this case of a minor girl who can become pregnant and in that case of a minor girl who cannot become pregnant --

she may go ahead and have sex in her usual manner,

and Heaven will have mercy upon her and prevent any mishap,

as it is stated: “YHWH preserves the simple” (Psalms 116:6).

In light of the statement of R’ Meir, how could Yusteni have become pregnant at age 7?

Explaining Justina’s Pregnancy: non-Jews are different, or she lied

Given R’ Meir’s definition, the Talmud offers two resolutions: either Yusteni, as a non-Jew, possessed different physical traits (“their flesh is the flesh of donkeys,” Ezekiel 23:20), or she fabricated her story (“whose mouth speaks falsehood,” Psalms 144:8).

• איבעית אימא:

  • ״אשר בשר חמורים בשרם״,

• ואיבעית אימא:

  • ״אשר פיהם דבר שוא וימינם ימין שקר״.

The Talmud answers:

• If you wish, say that

  • Yusteni was able to become pregnant at such a young age because she was a non-Jew, and the verse states with regard to non-Jews: “Their flesh is the flesh of donkeys” (Ezekiel 23:20).

• And if you wish, say instead that

  • Yusteni was lying when she said she became pregnant at age seven, as it is stated with regard to non-Jews: “Whose mouth speaks falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of lying” (Psalms 144:8).

The Case Before R’ Akiva: A woman told R’ Akiva she had sex before age 3 and asked if she was fit to marry a priest

A woman told R’ Akiva she had sex before age three and asked if she was fit to marry a priest. He ruled her fit.

תנו רבנן:

מעשה באשה אחת שבאת לפני רבי עקיבא,

אמרה לו:

רבי!

נבעלתי בתוך שלש שנים,

מה אני לכהונה?

אמר לה: כשרה את לכהונה.

A baraita states:

There was an incident involving a certain woman who came before R’ Akiva

and said to him:

My teacher!

I had sex within 3 years of my birth;

what is my status with regard to marrying into the priesthood?

R’ Akiva said to her: You are fit to marry into the priesthood.

When she added a parable implying that the sex was later consensual, he reversed himself, declaring her unfit.

אמרה לו:

רבי!

אמשול לך משל, למה הדבר דומה?

לתינוק שטמנו לו אצבעו בדבש,

פעם ראשונה ושניה גוער בה,

שלישית מצצה.

אמר לה: אם כן, פסולה את לכהונה.

She said to him:

My teacher!

I will tell you a parable; to what is this matter comparable?

It is comparable to a baby whose finger one forcibly dipped in honey.

On the 1st time and the 2nd time, he moans at his mother for doing so,

but on the 3rd occasion, once he is used to the taste of honey, he willingly sucks the finger dipped in honey.

She was insinuating to R’ Akiva that she had sex several times, and although the first couple of times were against her will, the 3rd incident was with her consent.

R’ Akiva said to her: If so, you are disqualified from marrying into the priesthood.

Seeing his students puzzled, R’ Akiva explained that the halakha—that intercourse with a girl under age 3 leaves her priestly status intact—is a tradition from Sinai; his reversal was only rhetorical, meant to sharpen their reasoning.⁹

ראה התלמידים מסתכלים זה בזה,

אמר להם:

למה הדבר קשה בעיניכם?

[אמרו לו]:

כשם שכל התורה הלכה למשה מסיני,

כך פחותה מבת שלש שנים כשרה לכהונה הלכה למשה מסיני.

ואף רבי עקיבא לא אמרה אלא לחדד בה את התלמידים.

R’ Akiva saw his students looking at each other, puzzling over this ruling.

He said to them:

Why is this matter difficult in your eyes?

(They said to him:) Just as the entire Torah is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai,

so too this halakha of a girl who had sex when she was less than 3 years old, i.e., that she is fit to marry into the priesthood, is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai, and it applies whether she engaged sex against her will or with her consent.

The Talmud notes: And even R’ Akiva did not say to the woman that she was unfit to marry into the priesthood because that is the halakha; rather, he did so only to sharpen the minds of his students with his statement, to see how they would respond.

1. “9 years and one day“.

Note: Typical spermarche (first sperm in ejaculate) generally occurs at age ~13–14 (range ~11.7–15.3). Age 9 is well before the usual capacity to impregnate.

2. Fact-check: Child pregnancy can occur only with precocious puberty, which is defined medically as pubertal onset before 8 in girls. Such cases are extraordinary and dangerous.

Compare also my two-part series “Fig Metaphors and Female Development: Puberty, Maturity, and Majority (Niddah 47a-b)”, final part here.

3. See the summary in Wikipedia, “Judges 21“, section “A new problem and an apparent solution (21:1–14)“:

The war had just ended when a fresh complication appeared because the Israelites made an ill-considered oath in Mizpah (21:1; cf. 20:1) that they would not voluntarily give their daughter to the Benjaminites.

During the war all the Benjaminite women have been slaughtered (20:47-48; 21:16) and because of the oath the 600 male survivors must die childless, raising an obstacle to restore the brotherhood (21:6; cf. 20:23, 28).

When the people’s call to YHWH went unanswered (after they tried to put the blame on YHWH; 21:3), they took actions that led to an added excessive slaughter.

A search indicates that the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead did not join the Israelites at Mizpah and the war, so hērem (“holy war” or “ban”) was applied to that city, but with a purpose to capture their virgin women while killing the rest of the people (cf. Numbers 31), to supply brides for the surviving Benjaminites.

However, only 400 virgins were available, thus not enough for the 600 men of Benjamin (verses 12, 14).

4. Note: These “virginity tests” were common in classical antiquity; they’re pseudoscience by modern standards.

5. On betrothal with sex in general, see my “ ‘Tractate Kinyanim’: Modes of Acquiring People, Livestock, Land and More (Mishnah Kiddushin 1:1-6)“, section “Women“, where I summarize:

A woman becomes betrothed (נקנית - literally: “acquired”) to a man via one of three mechanisms:

1. Money (כסף)

2. Document (שטר)

3. Sex (ביאה)

6. יוסטני - “Yustini”.

On this name, compare Wikipedia, “Justina”:

Justina is an anglicised version of the Latin name Iustina, feminine of Iustinus, a derivative of Iustus, meaning fair or just.

For the masculine version of the name, see Justin.

And compare Wikipedia, “Justina (empress)“:

Justina (Latin: Iustina; c. 340 – c. 388) was a Roman empress.

She was initially the wife of the rebel emperor Magnentius and was then married to Valentinian I, with whom she had four children, including the emperor Valentinian II and the empress Galla […]

Justina was a daughter of Justus, governor of Picenum under Constantius II.

7. Antoninus is Mentioned elsewhere in the Talmud as the name of a Roman emperor who interacted with R’ Yehuda HaNasi.

See these pieces of mine, with my notes there:

• “Symbolic Dialogues and Strategic Counsel: Six Stories of Antoninus and R’ Yehuda HaNasi (Avodah Zarah 10a-b)“

• “Four Philosophical Dialogues Between R’ Yehuda Hanasi and the Roman Antoninus (Sanhedrin 91a-b)“

8. סנדל - from Latin

I.e. she be impregnated a second time and her current fetus is squashed by the pressure of the second fetus.

Note: The Talmud’s “sandal” description closely resembles fetus papyraceus—where a twin dies early and is compressed flat by the surviving twin’s membranes.

However, that’s a twin-pregnancy phenomenon, not the result of getting pregnant a second time during an existing pregnancy.

True superfetation (a second conception during pregnancy) in humans is extremely rare--only 10 confirmed cases in history

9. On the final line--“R’ Akiva said it to sharpen (לחדד) his students”--see my piece at Academia about stories of deception in the Talmud.