Israeli far-right lawmaker Avi Maoz accused the Justice Ministry of attempting to normalize pedophilia within the country by altering Israel's age of consent laws.
Currently, the age of consent in Israel is 16 for all genders. However, that age of consent can go as low as 14, provided the other sexual partner was no more than three years older and both parties consented.
But according to Maoz, the Justice Ministry is trying to change this to an age gap of five years.
This is a strictly Halachic point.
ReplyDeleteAccording to my understanding, here is no Halachic prohibition against a Jewish man who is not a Mamzer marrying a girl twelve and a half and older who is not married to anyone else nor is a Mamzeres.
For the same reason that if you tried to sell your 3 year old daughter into an involuntary marriage, no Beis Din would pop up and say "But it's permitted by the Torah!"
ReplyDeleteLet's just say, for the sake of argument, that we are living in a post-apocalyptic world with scattered Jewish communities living in agrarian societies not unlike Mishnaic times.
ReplyDeleteAnd people have generally large families and many are poor, while some have wealth, and would welcome an opportunity to take in a young girl.who otherwise would face a life of impoverishment and treat her as a member of their family.
I can imagine that a Bais Din in this imaginary future might countenance the implementation of the Mitzvah of a Jewish maidservant.
First of all, even in Mishnaic times , Chazal restricted fathers from selling off their 3 year old daughters to those who were extremely impoverished. It allowed the girl to escape grinding misery and have a chance at a better life. And yes, in a society without a social welfare system, selling oneself into slavery for 6 six was a way to obtain stable housing, food and employment.
ReplyDeleteSo yes, after the mushroom clouds clear, if there's anyone left we might go back to that. But then we're also going back to bands of roving marauders in hockey masks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2gVXd7FzhQ&ab_channel=Movieclips