[Hanbali]

(...cont'd)


The Talmud recommends that a daughter be given in marriage at around the age of twelve (i.e. the commencement of puberty), but Jewish fathers were historically allowed to marry their daughters off even before that age:

• In the ancient world, Jewish law seemed to require an act of intercourse for a betrothal to be recognised. The Mishnah said: "A girl three years old and one day may be betrothed by intercourse […]" (Mishnah, Nid. V. 4). Maimonides (A. D. 1180) states: "If she is three years and one day old she may be betrothed by an act of intercourse, with the consent of her father. If she is less than that, and her father has her betrothed by an act of intercourse, she is not betrothed" ([197218][78]). Edwardes (1967a168)[79]: "The early-marriage tradition of Israel found acceptance in Christendom, whose precocious children bedded and wedded at or even before puberty...At the time of St. Paul, girls were married at puberty or a little before.

• …One passage that would echo long and loud for Ashkenazic Jews throughout the Middle Ages held that a man who marries off his sons and daughters near the period of puberty (samukh le-firkan) will receive the scriptural blessing: “you shall know that your tent is in peace” (Job 5:24), 101 evidently understood to mean that if one’s children were married, they would not succumb to sexual temptation” (Biale, 199749-50)[95]

• …Although the Talmud recommended that a daughter be given in marriage when na'rah, between the ages of twelve and twelve and a half, a father could marry her off well before that time…16th century Jewish history reveals a prevalence of girl "child" marriage, many of whom were between 12 and 14 years of age (Lamdan, 1996)[86]

• The early marriage age may be attributed to several factors: an attempt to prevent the temptation of sexual relations before marriage; the effort to arrange the best possible match both socially and economically; the insecurity of diaspora Jews during the age of expulsions from Spain and Ottoman expansion, moving them to establish ties that would assure the children's financial future; and the desire to raise a new generation of Jews as quickly as possible to assure the continuity of their people.

• (Growing Up Sexually: A World Reference Atlas, http://www2.rz.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/GUS/MIDDLEEASTOLD.HTM)

We read further:

• According to the Talmud, the recommended age for marriage is sometime after twelve for females, and thirteen for males. Marriage below these ages was generally frowned upon. However, a father was allowed to betroth his daughter to another man at an earlier age, and sexual intercourse was regarded as a valid means of sealing a betrothal. The age limit for betrothal through sexual intercourse was shockingly low. According to the Talmud, “A girl of the age of three years and one day may be betrothed by intercourse.”

• (Mark E. Pietrzyk, http://www.internationalorder.org/scandal_response.html)