[Avodah] the cohen gadol and marriage to a pubescent girl

[Minden]

RMYG wrote:
> But what if we know, for certain, that this particular minor will not be harmed, and she also wants to marry him?

Two things:

First, I think a basic assumption is that a 12-year old isn't able to make the qualifed decision. Now this is a fascinating question in itself: without doubt, intellectual and emotional maturity at a given age can be very different at least individually, but already when it's about societies or sub-societies, the issue is more difficult. Are American goyishe teenagers today less mature than their age peers were in 1850 in English coal mines or the Russian army, or today in Asian sweatshops and rice fields and African war zones? Or are all the latter groups just as unmature, just forced to live adult lives?

The state of the art seems to say there's no basic difference, otherwise what would be wrong with children working and fighting like adults? (On top of trying to avoid hard labour and wars in general, that is.)

The second aspect, harm or not: as far as I know, current psychology assumes that, bar exceptions, sexual relations with a 12-year old are harmful. I don't know enough about the matter to have an opinion, other than that intercourse between a 12-year old and a 40-50-year old isn't a comforting concept. I'm aware that this is probably a result of growing up in "Western society". I suppose sexual relations without a stable emotional background aren't healthy at any age, adn this kind of background is less there, statistically, among 12-year olds.

The basic question is: is a girl around bas-mitzve age an adult in respects like these? If so, we have a serious clash with today's society, where maturity and adulthood are gauged at 18-21. And this is what most of us "feel" to make sense. (As an aside, physical maturity was probably even later in the time of the gemore, up to four or five years later.)


Lipman Phillip Minden
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http://lipmans.blogspot.com