Zionists Four

And if accounts of Israelites killing one another roughly 2,500 years before Islam doesn’t get to you, how about Jewish law recognizing the betrothal through intercourse of a girl three years and one day old when her father arranged the betrothal?

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Mishnah Niddah 5:4 states that a girl who is “three years and one day old” can be betrothed through intercourse when her father has arranged the betrothal. It also applies that age threshold to levirate marriage, adultery liability, ritual impurity, priestly status, and prohibited sexual relationships.

Mishnah. Niddah 5:4. The Mishnah, translated by Herbert Danby, Oxford University Press, 1933.

The Babylonian Talmud, Niddah 44b, repeats and discusses the Mishnah’s rule that “three years and one day” is the threshold at which intercourse has legal significance for several areas of Jewish law. It also records a dispute in which Rabbi Meir gives a different calculation and the Sages maintain the “three years and one day” threshold.

Babylonian Talmud. Niddah 44b. The Babylonian Talmud, translated under the editorship of Isidore Epstein, Soncino Press, 1935–1952.

The Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot 57b, distinguishes a girl younger than “three years and one day” from one who has reached that threshold. It states that intercourse below that age lacks the legal significance assigned to intercourse at or above the threshold and cites the rule concerning betrothal and levirate marriage.

Babylonian Talmud. Yevamot 57b. The Babylonian Talmud, translated under the editorship of Isidore Epstein, Soncino Press, 1935–1952.

The Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 10a, states that a girl “three years and one day old” can be betrothed through intercourse and lists additional legal consequences involving levirate marriage, adultery, ritual impurity, priestly status, and prohibited relationships.

Babylonian Talmud. Kiddushin 10a. The Babylonian Talmud, translated under the editorship of Isidore Epstein, Soncino Press, 1935–1952.

The Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 55b, explicitly cites the Mishnah’s rule that a girl “three years and one day old” can be betrothed through intercourse and applies the same threshold while discussing the legal significance of intercourse.

Babylonian Talmud. Sanhedrin 55b. The Babylonian Talmud, translated under the editorship of Isidore Epstein, Soncino Press, 1935–1952.

The Babylonian Talmud, Ketubot 11b, uses the age of “more than three years and one day” when discussing the presumed sexual status of a female convert, captive, or formerly enslaved girl and the resulting amount of her marriage contract and whether a husband can make a claim concerning virginity.

Babylonian Talmud. Ketubot 11b. The Babylonian Talmud, translated under the editorship of Isidore Epstein, Soncino Press, 1935–1952.

Maimonides codifies “three years and one day” as a threshold in the laws of forbidden sexual relations. He states that when an adult male has intercourse with a girl who has reached that age, the act has the legal status of sexual intercourse for purposes of the specified offenses, while the minor girl herself is not criminally liable because of her age.

Maimonides, Moses. Mishneh Torah: Forbidden Intercourse. 1:13. Translated by Eliyahu Touger, Moznaim Publishing, 1998.

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