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Text Excerpt
ומי מעברא? והתני רב ביבי קמיה דרב נחמן: שלש נשים משמשות במוך, אלו הן: קטנה, ומעוברת, ומניקה. קטנה — שמא תתעבר ותמות, מעוברת — שמא תעשה עוברה סנדל, מניקה — שמא תגמול את בנה.
Rava’s dilemma is based on the assumption that a rape victim is able to conceive before she is a grown woman. The Talmud asks: And can a minor conceive? But didn’t Rav Beivai teach a baraita before Rav Naḥman: It is permitted for 3 women to have sex with a contraceptive resorbent. These are they: A minor, and a pregnant woman, and a nursing woman. The baraita elaborates: A minor may do so lest she conceive and die; a pregnant woman, lest her existing fetus be crushed by another fetus and assume the shape of a sandal fish if she conceives a second time; and a nursing woman, lest she conceive, causing her milk to spoil, which will lead her to wean her son prematurely, endangering his health.
ואיזוהי קטנה — מבת אחת עשרה שנה ויום אחד עד שתים עשרה שנה ויום אחד. פחות מיכן ויתר על כן משמשת כדרכה והולכת, דברי רבי מאיר. וחכמים אומרים: אחת זו ואחת זו משמשת כדרכה והולכת, ומן השמים ירחמו, משום שנאמר: ״שומר פתאים ה׳״!
And the baraita further states: What is a minor girl? A minor girl is a girl from 11 years and one day old until 12 years and one day old. If she was less than that age or more than that age, she proceeds and has sex in her usual manner; this is the statement of R' Meir. And the Rabbis say: Both this woman and that woman, i.e., in the cases of all these women, she proceeds and has sex in her usual manner, and from Heaven they will have mercy and prevent any mishap, due to the fact that it is stated: “YHWH preserves the simple” (Psalms 116:6). Apparently, a minor is unable to conceive.
וכי תימא דאיעברא כשהיא נערה, ואולידה כשהיא נערה. ובשיתא ירחי מי קא ילדה? והאמר שמואל: אין בין נערות לבגרות אלא ששה חדשים. וכי תימא: בציר הוא דליכא, הא טפי — איכא, הא ״אלא״ קאמר!
And if you say that she conceived when she was a young woman, 12 years old, and gave birth when she was a young woman, and died before she reached the status of a grown woman, can a woman give birth in 6 months after conception? But didn’t Shmuel say: There are only 6 months between becoming a young woman and becoming a grown woman? And if you say that Shmuel is saying that it is less than 6 months that there is not transition from young woman to grown woman status; however, more than 6 months there is transition, as different women develop differently, and therefore she could conceive and give birth while she is a young woman, that is not so, as Shmuel said: Only, indicating that the period is neither less nor more than 6 months.