[Hanbali]

Don't lie to me. I hate how you Christian hypocrites lie. Don't dare lie, because I will whoop you with the truth. Lying hypocrite Christians.

Age of Marriage in Judaism

The Jewish website, Jewfaq.org, says:

• The minimum age for marriage under Jewish law is 13 for boys, 12 for girls; however, the kiddushin [betrothal] can take place before that, and often did in medieval times.

• (JewFaq.org, http://www.jewfaq.org/marriage.htm)

We read further:

• According to Jewish religious law (halacha), which in Israel confers validity on the marriage of Jews conducted within its borders, it is possible to marry a young girl of any age, but the girl herself may decide to marry only when she has reached the age of 12 and a half.

• (Right to Education Organization, htttp://www.right-to-education.org/content/age/israel.html)

The Jewish website, AskMoses.com, says:

• What is the minimum age of marriage according to Jewish law?by Rabbi Naftali Silberberg

• …In ancient (and not so ancient) times however, marriage was often-times celebrated at a rather young age. Although we do not follow this dictum, technically speaking, a girl may be betrothed the moment she is born, and married at the age of three.2 A boy may betroth and marry at the age of thirteen.3

• Footnotes

• • 1. Talmud Kiddushin 41a.
  • 2. Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 37:1.
  • 3. Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 43:1.

• (AskMoses.com, http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=573&o=2488)

The Jewish Encyclopedia says:

• Age for Marriage

• The first positive commandment of the Bible, according to rabbinic interpretation (Maimonides, "Minyan ha-Miẓwot," 212), is that concerning the propagation of the human species (Gen. i. 28). It is thus considered the duty of every Israelite to marry as early in life as possible. Eighteen years is the age set by the Rabbis (Ab. v. 24); and any one remaining unmarried after his twentieth year is said to be cursed by God Himself (Ḳid. 29b). Some urge that children should marry as soon as they reach the age of puberty

• (Jewish Encyclopedia, http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=M&artid=216)

In the journal entitled Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal, we find that Jews were still marrying at the age of puberty up until World War I:

• A Daughter’s Coming of Age

• …In earlier days, girls got married at the age of nine…[following the] custom of marrying daughters at age eight to ten…if the maiden does not get married until the age of fifteen she has no hope of marriage, because she would be considered an old maid…At the end of the nineteenth century, despite these regulations, families still married their daughters at the age of twelve and thirteen…On the eve of World War I, the situation changed somewhat for the better when the legal age for marriage was raised to fifteen, with the consent of the parents, who set the amount of the dowry. After the war this situation improved as Jewish society became liberalized and education became more universal, particularly for girls.

• (Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal, http://www.utoronto.ca/wjudaism/journal/vol3n2/sehayek.html)