Study Niddah folio 32A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
The Talmud responds: It is R' Meir, as it is taught in a baraita: A minor boy and a minor girl may not perform the ritual through which a yavam frees a yevama of her levirate bonds [ḥalitza], nor may they enter into levirate marriage. In other words, a minor boy whose brother died childless may not
The Rabbis said to R' Meir: You have aptly stated that they may not perform ḥalitza, since “man” is written in the passage of the Torah discussing ḥalitza (Deuteronomy 25:7), and we compare a woman to a man, as the aforementioned verse states: “And if the man does not want to take his brother’s wi
R' Meir said to them: A minor boy may not enter into levirate marriage lest, once he is older, he be found to be a sexually underdeveloped man, who is incapable of fathering children. Likewise, a minor girl may not enter into levirate marriage lest, once she is older, she be found to be a sexuall
The Talmud notes: And the Rabbis maintain that one follows the majority of minor boys, and most minor boys are not going to be sexually underdeveloped men; likewise, one follows the majority of minor girls, and most minor girls are not going to be sexually underdeveloped women. In any event, the b
The Talmud objects: You can say that you heard that R' Meir is concerned for a common minority, e.g., the minority of sexually underdeveloped men and sexually underdeveloped women. But did you hear him say that one is concerned for an uncommon minority, such as the minority of young girls who mens