Jewish
Rachel Adler is associate professor of Modern Jewish Thought
and Judaism and Gender at the School of Religion, University
of Southern California and the Hebrew Union College
Rabbinical School, Los Angeles. She writes in her 1998 book:
"The Talmud also prescribes no penalty for sodomizing
a very young boy. In the opinion of Rav, a very young
boy is defined as less than nine years of age and, in
the opinion of Shemuel, less than three (Sanhedrin
54b). This does not mean that these acts were
necessarily well regarded,
but it does mean that what modern Jews consider
heinous sexual
crimes carried no criminal penalties in these earlier
Judaisms."
The Babylonian Talmud—"To the Orthodox Jew it is the
authoritative text of Judaism, and its authority can
only be denied
at the risk of hersey"—in the Soncino English edition,
tractate Sanhedrin, folio 54b, it is stated:
"Our Rabbis taught: In the case of a male child, a
young one is not regarded as on a par with an old
one; but a
young beast is treated as an old one. What is meant by
this? — Rab said: Pederasty (sex
with a boy) with
a child below nine years of age is not deemed as
pederasty with a child above that. Samuel
said: Pederasty with a child below three
years is not treated as with a child above that.24
(I.e., Rab
makes nine years the minimum; but if one committed
sodomy with a child of lesser age, no guilt is incurred.
Samuel makes three the minimum.)"
"This Baraita supports Rav, for it teaches that if a
man engaged in homosexual intercourse with a child under
the age of nine, he is exempt from liability." source
"If a boy under the age of nine perpetrated sodomy
upon an adult, the adult is not liable for punishment,
for the intercourse of a boy under nine years of age is
not legally an act of intercourse. Since a child less
than nine years old cannot commit sodomy, he can also
not be the object of sodomy." source
See also:
