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Sex with Children by Talmud Rules
We are told there is a movement afoot to make pederasty (child-adult sex) socially acceptable and legally permissible. Researching the issue, we find that many dominant voices on both sides of the controversy are Jewish.
How is this possible? Which voices speak for the core values of Judaism? Our questions are not prompted by idle curiosity, but by social concern. America is rapidly becoming Talmudized, and we should understand the direction in which our social policies are moving.
Let us start with an article in the Washington Times, a major newspaper that espouses conservative Christian values. The Times provides a useful starting point because they name names. Let us borrow the Times' viewpoint.
Feminist writer Judith Levine's book Not Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Kids from Sex has been condemned by those who say she excuses sexual abuse of children — a charge she strongly denies. Ms. Levine says she was "misunderstood" after a news article last month quoted her saying a boy's sexual experience with a priest "conceivably" could be positive.
— Washington Times (1)
The Washington Times depicts Harris Mirkin as follows:
Harris Mirkin, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, published a 1999 article in the Journal of Homosexuality complaining that boys who have sex with men "are never considered willing participants, even if they are hustlers." He has also written that "children are the last bastion of the old sexual morality."
The Washington Times cites a controversial psychology research study:
A 1998 "meta-analytic" study in an American Psychological Association (APA) journal argued, among other things, that "value-neutral" language such as "adult-child sex" should be used to describe child molestation if it was a "willing encounter."
The study was conducted by Bruce Rind, Robert Bauserman, and Philip Tromovitch, and was published in the Psychological Bulletin in 1998 under the editorship of Nancy Eisenberg.(4)
Here come the good guys. Meet Joy Silberg.
Ms. Levine's book favorably cites the Rind study and, in a telephone interview, she defended the study as "methodologically meticulous." But Baltimore psychologist Joy Silberg, whose clinical practice involves treating child-abuse victims, says the study is "horribly flawed." "I can't call it science," she said. … Ms. Silberg, the Baltimore psychologist, agrees that the "whole academic movement" to legitimize sex with children "is growing."
Now comes Dr. Laura Schlessinger:
Radio host Laura Schlessinger led a campaign against that study by Temple University psychology professor Bruce Rind and two other academics. Congress eventually voted unanimously to condemn the Rind study — which has already been used as evidence to defend accused child molesters in at least three court cases.
Dr. Laura is, of course, widely considered a shining example of moral rectitude. She is famous for her denunciation of homosexuality, (7) and very popular with those who call themselves fundamentalist Christians. As one of America's best-known Orthodox Jews, Dr. Laura received the 2001 National Heritage Award from the National Council of Young Israel, an organization of 150 Orthodox synagogues in the US. The executive vice president of Young Israel is Rabbi Pesach Lerner. The following report comes from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The program for the National Council of Young Israel dinner described Schlessinger as "a powerful source of inspiration and pride for all Jews." The mainly right-leaning Orthodox Jews filling the large room applauded her, and many approached her afterward to ask for autographs and declare their admiration …
— Jewish Telegraphic Agency (2)
We are told that Schlessinger is a member of a Lubavitch synagogue, Chabad of Agoura, in suburban Los Angeles. Then:
Schlessinger's rabbi, Moshe Bryski, insists that his most famous congregant is serious about the moral questions she receives, researching Jewish ethics and frequently calling him to consult on issues that arise on her show. "There is a sense of responsibility because at times she'll call me about specific questions, and I realize the answer is going to be broadcast to 20 million people, and I better get it right," Bryski says.
The Jewish publication, Forward, also covered Dr. Laura's Young Israel award.
The executive director of Young Israel, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, said Ms. Schlessinger was chosen because of her success "in changing the moral compass of this country," on issues such as abortion, abstinence and homosexuality. He also cited her personal religious journey that eventually led her to adopt an Orthodox lifestyle.
— Forward(5)
No doubt Rabbi Bryski listens to Dr. Laura' show to see how his student is doing. Given her fame as an Orthodox Jew, we might expect that some of the rabbis affiliated with the 150 Orthodox synagogues in the Young Israel organization would listen in, too.
Jewish law, of course, is based primarily on the Talmud, which Jews often call the "Torah." (48) Let's follow Dr. Laura, Rabbi Bryski, and Young Israel directly to the source of their doctrines, the Talmud. We will ask the reader to be patient and tolerant when reading this material, even though some of these ideas may be very new.
(Note: When excerpting quotations from the Talmud, we sometimes omit non-germane text and footnotes. Omission of text is indicated by an ellipsis (…). To see the full text and footnotes, follow the hot link at the end of the excerpt. It is our pleasure to make available on line a number of Talmud tractates, so that you can see the excerpt in full context. We indicate unprintable Hebrew characters, words, and phrases with the symbol [H].)
Talmud law permits sexual intercourse between children and adults. This doctrine is contained in a number of Mishnahs. Before we examine them, however, it is necessary that the reader be familiar with the word kethubah.
According to the Soncino Talmud Glossary:
KETHUBAH (Lit., 'a written [document]'); (a) a wife's marriage settlement which she is entitled to recover on her being divorced or on the death of her husband. The minimum settlement for a virgin is two hundred zuz, and for a widow remarrying one hundred zuz; (b) the marriage contract specifying the mutual obligations between husband and wife and containing the amount of the endowment and any other special financial obligations assumed by the husband.
— Babylonian Talmud, Soncino Talmud Glossary
Zuz is a unit of currency. We see, then, that a dollar (or zuz) value is put on virginity.
Now let's look at a Mishnah from Kethuboth 11a:
MISHNAH. WHEN A GROWN-UP MAN (7) HAS HAD SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH (8) A LITTLE GIRL, (9) OR WHEN A SMALL BOY (10) HAS INTERCOURSE WITH A GROWN-UP WOMAN, OR [WHEN A GIRL WAS ACCIDENTALLY] INJURED BY A PIECE OF WOOD (11) — [IN ALL THESE CASES] THEIR KETHUBAH IS TWO HUNDRED [ZUZ] …
— Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Kethuboth 11aSoncino 1961 Edition, page 57
The translator, Rabbi Dr. Samuel Daiches, amplifies the text with footnotes:
7. A man who was of age.
8. Lit., 'who came on'.
9. Less than three years old.
10. Less than nine years of age.
11. Lit., 'One who was injured by wood', as a result of which she injured the hymen.
— Rabbi Dr. Daiches
Let's review the above-cited Mishnah: "When a grown-up man has had sexual intercourse with a little girl, or when a small boy has intercourse with a grown-up woman …" It is obvious that sex activity between a grown man and a little girl, and between a grown woman and a little boy, is a part of the woof and the warp of everyday Talmud life; such relationships, in the eyes of the Sages, are unremarkable. There is no prohibition on sexual activity between adults and young children — it is simply regulated. Recall the words of the Very Reverend the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire the late Dr. Joseph Herman Hertz:
Religion in the Talmud attempts to penetrate the whole of human life with the sense of law and right. Nothing human is in its eyes mean or trivial; everything is regulated and sanctified by religion. Religious precept and duty accompany man from his earliest years to the grave and beyond it. They guide his desires and actions at every moment.
— Rabbi Dr. Hertz (38)
Thus, if the Talmud permits girls three years old and younger to be sexually used by adults, that is the law. The concern of the Sages is to ensure that the adult is not, technically speaking, in violation of any of the rules.
In the Gemara that follows the Mishnah of Kethuboth 11a (cited above), the Sages discuss the issues. They say having intercourse with a girl younger than three is like putting a finger in the eye. Rabbi Dr. Daiches explains in the footnotes that, just as tears come to the eye again and again, so does virginity come back to the little girl under three years.
GEMARA. Rab Judah said that Rab said: A small boy who has intercourse with a grown-up woman makes her [as though she were] injured by a piece of wood. (1) When I said it before Samuel he said: 'Injured by a piece of wood' does not apply to (2) flesh. Some teach this teaching by itself: (3) [As to] a small boy who has intercourse with a grown-up woman, Rab said, he makes her [as though she were] injured by a piece of wood; whereas Samuel said: 'Injured by a piece of wood' does not apply to flesh. R. Oshaia objected: WHEN A GROWN-UP MAN HAS HAD INTERCOURSE WITH A LITTLE GIRL, OR WHEN A SMALL BOY HAS INTERCOURSE WITH A GROWN-UP WOMAN, OR WHEN A GIRL WAS ACCIDENTALLY INJURED BY A PIECE OF WOOD — [IN ALL THESE CASES] THEIR KETHUBAH IS TWO HUNDRED [ZUZ]; SO ACCORDING TO R. MEIR. BUT THE SAGES SAY: A GIRL WHO WAS INJURED ACCIDENTALLY BY A PIECE OF WOOD — HER KETHUBAH IS A MANEH! (4) Raba said, It means (5) this: When a grown-up man has intercourse with a little girl it is nothing, for when the girl is less than this, (6) it is as if one puts the finger into the eye; (7) but when a small boy has intercourse with a grown-up woman he makes her as 'a girl who is injured by a piece of wood,' and [with regard to the case of] 'a girl injured by a piece of wood,' itself, there is the difference of opinion between R. Meir and the Sages.
— Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Kethuboth 11bSoncino 1961 Edition, page 57-58
Rabbi Dr. Samuel Daiches amplifies the text with footnotes (page 58):
1. Although the intercourse of a small boy is not regarded as a sexual act, nevertheless the woman is injured by it as by a piece of wood.
2. Lit., 'is not in'.
3. I.e., the difference of opinion between Rab and Samuel with regard to that question was recorded without any reference to R. Judah.
4. The Sages differ only with regard to a girl injured by a piece of wood, but not with regard to a small boy who has intercourse with a grown-up woman. This shows that the latter case cannot be compared with the former case. The Mishnah would consequently be against Rab and for Samuel.
5. Lit., 'says'.
6. Lit., 'here', that is, less than three years old.
7. I.e., tears come to the eye again and again, so does virginity come back to the little girl under three years. Cf. Nid. 45a.
To a person unaccustomed with the Talmud culture, it may seem that discussion of sexual intercourse between grown men and very young girls is merely theoretical. But as we shall see, cases are cited, judgments are weighed and debated, and the Sages discuss the wounds suffered by the young girls as a result of the intercourse.
We know that the amount of a woman's kethubah depends on her virginity on her wedding day. But what of a woman who, as a little girl below the age of three years, was raped or otherwise subjected to sexual intercourse? The Sages rule that the kethubah of such a woman is set as if she were still a virgin.
MISHNAH. A WOMAN PROSELYTE, A WOMAN CAPTIVE, AND A WOMAN SLAVE, WHO HAVE BEEN REDEEMED, CONVERTED, OR FREED [WHEN THEY WERE] LESS THAN THREE YEARS AND ONE DAY OLD — THEIR&#...
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