Yevamot II 80: Status and Yibum: Traits of Those Who Are Sexually Underdeveloped

Can a sexually undeveloped man perform chalitza? Join the community?  
We learn that fascinating ideas were floating around in the times of the Talmud:

• a eunuch was said to be caused by his mother baking bread at noon and drinking strong beer (or perhaps fermenting beer, or clear/cloudy wine, etc.) while pregnant with him
• we can identify that one was never fertile because his stream of urine  does not form an arch
• a firstborn animal is examined for eye blemishes three times within eighty days to determine whether or not the 'defect' is permanent
• a 'defect' that affects the entire body, such as prolonged sexual immaturity, does not heal. Only 'defects' that affect one organ can heal.
• Beit Hillel: proof of being a eunuch or an aylonit involves bringing proof that the young person is twenty years old and has not grown two pubic hairs
• Beit Shammai: The same proof is provided, but at age eighteen
• If proof is provided, these young people do not perform chalitza/enter into levirate marriage with her yavam

The rabbis go on to argue these points.  First, suggests Rabbi Eliezer, don't women and men mature at different rates?  Perhaps women should be examined at age eighteen and men at age twenty?  But did they not cure eunuchs in Alexandria of Egypt?  Or perhaps punishments were indications of how eunuchs and ayloniyot were granted status?  For example, if a youth should be punished by karet for a sin done between twelve and eighteen years, and later he grew two pubic hairs, isn't he regarded as a eunuch by natural causes retroactively?  Or was he a minor at the time of the offence, as he had not reached sexual maturity at that time?  A note suggests that this idea might have been directed at young women, as they are the ones who reach maturity at age twelve.  The rabbis are struggling with which genders were intended here.

Shouldn't an aylonit be entitled to the fine paid by a rapist, asks Rav Yosef?  Abaye notes that an aylonit passes directly from minority too full adulthood, and adult women are not entitled to the rapist's fine.   This is obviously deserving of more comment, but I'll move on for the sake of time.   And the end of that story: Rav Yosef is convinced.  

Some more facts of the day:

• a child born in the eighth month (or seventh) is considered to be a minor until his/her twentieth birthday due to his/her weak constitution
• a premature child was not allowed to be moved on Shabbat though his/her mother could bend over to nurse if she 'suffers due to her milk' - going without nursing could be a danger to mother and child
• Now such children are allowed to be moved on Shabbat.
• one who was born in the seventh month has undeveloped nails and hair; gestation has been delayed for any reason
• one who has not grown two pubic hairs by twelve (girl) or thirteen (boy) is considered a minor until their twentieth birthdays
• Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel teaches that a human child who stay alive for thirty days  is not to be called a stillborn
• a stubborn and rebellious son is one who transgresses between the time that he has grown two pubic hairs and the before his member is fully surrounded by hair
• babies can be born up to eleven months without the woman's husband present for the baby to be considered fit and not a mamzer

The rabbis discuss more signs of a eunuch: anyone who

• is twenty and has not grown two pubic hairs
• does not have a beard, and his hair is unusual
• whose skin is smooth
• whose urine does not raise foam
• urinates without forming an arch
• whose semen dissipates 
• whose urine does not ferment
• who bathes in the rainy season and his flesh does not give off steam
• whose voice is "defective" so that one cannot know if it is a man or a woman

And an aylonit:

• who is twenty years old and has not grown two pubic hairs
• who does not have breasts
• who experiences pain during intercourse
• whose lower abdomen is not like other women (without the "cushion of flesh above the genitals")
• whose voice is deep so that one cannot know if it is a man or a woman

The rabbis hold different opinions regarding whether all or just one or some of these characteristics must be present to declare someone's status.  Steinsaltz's notes share a number of hormonal and genetic differences that lead to these experiences. 

Rabbi Akiva suggests that if these individuals were created in this way by the Hand of Heaven, they should not perform chalitza/enter into levirate marriage.  However, if they were in this state due to interference by men, they should perform chalitza/enter into levirate marriage like any other person.

It is amazing to bear witness to ancient thinking about birth, nursing, genetic and hormonal conditions... We continue to struggle with anyone who does not fit into the ideas of 'normal' that we have continued to recreate.  For all that we consider ourselves to be living in a progressive society, our ideas are not that much different than those laid out by our Sages two thousand years ago.