(Mishnah): If she is less than three, this is like sticking a finger in the eye.

Question: If a girl less than three has Bi'ah, what happens to the Besulim?

Are they broken, and they grow back later?

Or, they are not broken, and they will be broken the first time she has Bi'ah after three?

Question: What difference does it make?

Answer #1: If a man had Bi'ah with his wife before three and blood came out, and there was no blood after the first Bi'ah after three:

If the Besulim are broken, we can say that they did not have a chance to grow back because he regularly had Bi'ah with her;

If they are not broken before three, surely another man had Bi'ah with her after three before her husband. This makes her a Zonah. (She is permanently forbidden to Kehunah. If her husband is a Yisrael, she is permitted to him. Even if a minor willingly had Bi'ah, it is considered Ones.)

Objection (Rav Huna brei d'Rav Ika): Why should we assume that (if the Besulim are broken) they need time to grow back? Perhaps this happens immediately! (If so, in any case, she is a Zonah.)

Answer #2: Rather, if blood came out after Bi'ah before three, and also after the first Bi'ah after three (either way, the latter blood is surely Dam Besulim):

If the Besulim are broken and grow back, also the blood before three years was Dam Besulim;

If they are not broken before three, the blood before three years was Dam Nidah.

Answer (Rav Chisda - Mishnah): If she is less than three, this is like sticking a finger in the eye.

Question: It should have said "Bi'ah before three is not considered Bi'ah"!

Answer: Rather, this teaches that Besulim are like an eye. Tears come out, and then more tears. Likewise, the Besulim are broken and grow back.

(Beraisa): Yustni (Antoninus' granddaughter) asked Rebbi "what is the earliest a girl may (fully) marry (i.e. Nesu'in)? What is the youngest that a girl can get pregnant (and bear children)?"

Rebbi: She can marry after three years and a day. She can get pregnant after 12 years and a day.

Yustni: I married at the age of six, and delivered at the age of seven. Woe to me that I did not marry three years earlier!

Question: How could she get pregnant so young?!

(Rav Bivi - Beraisa): Three women use a tuft to prevent pregnancy: a minor, a pregnant woman, and a nursing woman. (Rashi - they may use a contraceptive tuft at the time of Bi'ah. Tosfos - this is forbidden! Rather, they must use a tuft after Bi'ah to remove the semen.)

A minor does so, lest she get pregnant and die;

A pregnant woman does so lest the fetus get mashed (Rashi - if a second fetus is conceived; Tosfos (Yevamah 12b) - this is impossible. Rather, we are concerned lest there are already two fetuses inside, and semen will enter between them);

A nursing woman does so lest pregnancy force her to wean her baby (prematurely), and he will die.

R. Meir says, we are concerned for a minor between 11 and 12. Before this (she cannot become pregnant) or after this (pregnancy is not dangerous), she has Bi'ah normally.

Chachamim say, all women have Bi'ah normally. Hash-m will have mercy on them -- "Shomer Pesa'im Hash-m."

Answer #1: "Besar Chamorim Besaram" (Nochrim are like animals. They conceive at younger ages.)

Answer #2: "Pihem Diber Shav" (she lied).

(Beraisa): A woman told R. Akiva, "I had Bi'ah before three (with a Pasul). Am I permitted to Kehunah?"

R. Akiva: Yes.

The woman: At first I did not want to, but in the end I desired it!

R. Akiva: If so, you are disqualified from Kehunah.

His Talmidim looked bewildered, R. Akiva asked them why.

The Talmidim: A tradition from Moshe from Sinai teaches that Bi'ah before three years does not disqualify from Kehunah! (It is not considered Bi'ah at all.)

R. Akiva intentionally gave the wrong ruling to test his Talmidim.

(Mishnah): If a Yavam nine years and one day old did Yibum, it takes effect;

He may not divorce her until he becomes an adult.

If he is Bo'el Nidah, he is Metamei a Mishkav to be (a Rishon l'Tum'ah) like a Kli above a Zav;

If he has Bi'ah with a woman forbidden to him, he disqualifies her from Kehunah;

He does not permit his wife to eat Terumah (even if he acquired her, e.g. through Yibum);

If he commits bestiality, the animal is killed (if there were two witnesses. If not), he disqualifies the animal from being a Korban.

If he has Bi'ah with an Ervah punishable by Misah, she is killed, and he is exempt.

(Gemara) Question: It does not suffice to divorce her when he becomes an adult!

(Beraisa): If a nine-year old boy did Yibum, mid'Rabanan it acquires like a Ma'amar (Kidushin d'Rabanan of a Yevamah to her Yavam. Tosfos (Kidushin 19a) - mid'Oraisa, Yibum of a minor has no effect. Rashi - mid'Oraisa, it is full Yibum. Chachamim enacted that it acquires only like a Ma'amar.)

If a Yavam wants to divorce after a Ma'amar, he must give a Get to undo the Ma'amar, and do Chalitzah to remove her Zikah (obligation to do Yibum). Likewise, if a nine-year old did Yibum, his Get (when he matures) must be accompanied by Chalitzah!

Answer (Rav): It means, if he had Bi'ah with her after he matured (which is full Yibum), he can divorce her. (Chalitzah is not needed.)

(Mishnah): If a girl above 11 (full) years vows (or is Makdish an item), we check her (to see if she understands that Nedarim and Hekdesh are to Hash-m);

If a girl above 12 vows, it is valid. (We do not check her);

During her 12th year, we check her.

If a boy above 12 years vows, we check him;

If a boy above 13 vows, it is valid;

During his 13th year we check him.

(In this entire discussion, the law of a girl is the same as that of a boy one year older.) If he vows before (12 full years), even if he knows (that vows and Hekdesh are to Hash-m), it does not take effect.

If he vows after (13 full years), even if he says that he did not know, it takes effect.

(Gemara) Question: Once the Mishnah teaches that we check her vows from 11 years, why must it teach that they are valid after 12? (Surely, we need not check after adulthood!)

Answer: One might have thought that we must always check (until we see that she understands). The Mishnah teaches that this is not so.

Question: Once the Mishnah teaches that we do not check her vows after 12 years, why must it teach that during her 12th year we check? This follows from the previous two laws!

Answer: Since 30 days in a year are considered like a year, one might have thought that if she did not know in the first 30 days of year 12, we need not check the rest of the year. The Mishnah teaches that this is not so.

Question: It should suffice to teach the last two clauses, that we check during year 12, and not afterwards!

Answer: One might have thought that normally, we check during year 12, but not before, but if we know that she is sharp, we check during year 11. The Mishnah teaches that this is not so.

Question: Why do we need the last two clauses, "... before this... " and "... after this... "?

Answer: One might have thought that normally, we assume that a vow before (this year) is invalid, and a vow afterwards is valid, but if he himself tells us otherwise (i.e. before, that he knows, or after, that he does not know), we accept his words. The Mishnah teaches that this is not so.

(Beraisa): Our Mishnah is like Rebbi. R. Shimon ben Elazar reverses the ages of boys and girls. (We check a girl's vows during the 13th year, and we check a boy's vows during the 12th year.)

(Rav Chisda): Rebbi learns from "va'Yiven Hash-m... l'Ishah" -- Hash-m gave women more Binah (understanding) than men.

R. Shimon ben Elazar expounds this like Reish Lakish;

(Reish Lakish): "Va'Yiven Hash-m... va'Yevi'eha El ha'Adam" teaches that Hash-m braided Chavah's hair and brought her to Adam;

(In overseas islands) braiding is called "Benyasa" (building).

Question: What is R. Shimon's reason?

Answer (Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak): Because a boy learns Torah from his Rebbi, he is quicker to become astute.

Question: Is the year (when we check, the 12th or 13th for a boy or girl, or vice-versa according to R. Shimon ben Elazar), like the previous years (he is a minor), or like the next year (adulthood)?

Question: What difference does it make?

It cannot be regarding vows, for we check them, unlike those of an adult or a younger minor!

Answer: It determines whether or not we punish (for Aveiros. It also affects Kidushin, divorce, etc... . The case is, he grew (pubic) hairs. Are they Shuma (premature hairs of no significance), or a Siman of adulthood?)

Answer #1 (Rav and R. Chaninah): That year is like the year before. (The hairs are Shuma.)

Answer #2 (R. Yochanan and R. Yehoshua ben Levi): It is like the next year. (The hairs are Simanim.)

Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak: A way to remember the opinions is "Zos Lifnim b'Yisrael." ("Zos" is feminine, like the name "Chaninah" (see Bach). R. Chaninah said Lifnei (before).).

Question #1 (against R. Yochanan - Rav Hamnuna - Mishnah): If he vows after (year 13), even if he says that he did not know that vows and Hekdesh are to Hash-m, it takes effect.

Inference: The (13th) year is like the year before. (We explained that this cannot be regarding vows. It must teach about punishment!)

Answer (Rava): You consider the Seifa to be extra, and you learn from it. It is just as reasonable to consider the Reisha to be extra, and learn oppositely from it!

(Reisha): If he vows before (year 12), even if he says that he knows that vows and Hekdesh are to Hash-m, it does not take effect.

Inference: That year is like afterwards!

Rejection: Rav Hamnuna's inference is from the Seifa itself, but not because the Seifa is extra!

Question: (The Seifa discusses vowing after the year.) What is the case?

If he did not grow hairs, he is still a minor!

Answer: Rather, he grew hairs;

Inference: The hairs are significant after the year. During the year they would be a Shuma!