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11 [1] One should not marry a girl below the age of majority. When a man marries an orphan girl below the age of majority, and [before she attains majority] she [decides that] she does not desire [to remain married to] this husband, she rejects [the marriage] and departs; a *get* is not required, because a consecration effected by a minor does not establish a marriage bond in the full sense, as explained. [The annulment of a marriage in this manner is referred to as *mi'un*.]
Similarly, when a girl below majority was married at her father's initiative, but was then widowed or divorced while still a minor, she is considered to be an orphan, although her father is alive. If she marries again while she is below the age of majority, she may annul her marriage through *mi'un*. [2] Although the marriage of a woman who is a deaf-mute is a Rabbinic institution like that of a minor, our Sages did not give her the right to annul it through *mi'un*, so that men would not refrain from marrying her. [3] A minor can annul her marriage via *mi'un* whether she has been merely consecrated or [even if] the marriage has been consummated. [She can exercise this privilege] in her husband's presence, or outside his presence. Just as she can annul her marriage to her husband, she can annul her relationship to a *yavam*.
Just as she can annul one marriage through *mi'un*, so too, she can annul a second marriage or a third marriage. Indeed, [she can exercise this privilege] any number of times.
As long as she is a minor, she has the right to annul her marriage through *mi'un*. When a minor does not exercise the right of *mi'un* and becomes consecrated to another man despite the fact that she was married, [the consecration is binding]. Becoming consecrated is [obviously] a rejection [- and thus an annulment - of her previous marriage]. [4] Until when may a girl annul her marriage through *mi'un*? Throughout the entire time she is a minor, until she becomes a *na'arah*, or until it is known that she becomes classified as an *aylonit*.
When does the above apply? When her husband did not engage in marital relations with her after she became twelve years and one day old. If, however, the couple engaged in relations after she reached this age, since these relations consecrate her according to Scriptural law, as explained, she no longer has the right to annul her marriage through *mi'un*.
Similarly, [when the woman reaches this age, we assume that she has lost her right to annul her marriage through *mi'un*]. She need not be checked for signs of physical maturity, for it is assumed that she has manifested them. [5] If she has undergone a physical inspection, and no signs of maturity were discovered, but she engaged in marital relations after the age when she could have manifested signs of maturity, we suspect that pubic hairs had grown and later fell off. Because of the doubt, the marriage must be dissolved with a *get*.
If a woman [who engaged in marital relations with her husband after reaching the age of twelve attempts to] annul her marriage through *mi'un* after undergoing a physical examination, and then is consecrated by another person, [her second husband also] must dissolve their relationship with a *get*, because of the doubt involved. If she married [the second husband], she must be divorced by both husbands and there is a doubt concerning the legitimacy of a child born to either of them [after her consecration to her second husband]. [6] When a minor does not exercise her right to *mi'un* and attains majority, she no longer has this privilege. [This applies] even when she did not engage in marital relations with her husband after reaching the age of twelve years and one day. Since she has attained majority, it is a Rabbinic decree that a divorce is required [if the marriage must be dissolved].
[The rationale for this ruling is as follows:] The couple did not engage in marital relations after she reached the age of *na'arut*, in which instance it would be necessary to suspect that she manifested signs of physical maturity, and accordinly, there would be a doubt whether or not a marriage bond had been established. Nor did they engage in relations after she attained majority, in which instance she would become a married woman in all regards. Accordingly, the only reason she requires a *get* is the fact of her marriage as a minor, which is a Rabbinic institution.
Based on the above, if another man consecrated her after she attained majority, [when she had not engaged in marital relations with her first husband from the age of twelve onward,] the second man's consecration is binding. As such, if her first husband divorces her, her second husband may consummate the marriage. If, however, her second husband divorces her, her first husband may not continue his marriage with her. [This is a decree, instituted] lest people say: "He remarried his divorcee after she was consecrated."
If her second husband engaged in marital relations with her before her first husband divorced her, she must be divorced by both men. [This is a decree instituted] because [the situation] resembles an instance in which a woman heard that her husband died, she married, and then her first husband returned. [The laws governing the two situations are not entirely analogous. In this instance,] a child fathered by the second husband is not illegitimate. But if her first husband engages in relations with her before her second husband divorces her, any child born is illegitimate. [7] In which instances must a minor perform the rite of *mi'un* [to nullify her marriage]? [Our Sages established the following guidelines.] If she was between six and ten [when she was consecrated], we investigate the extent of her sagacity.
If she knows to guard [the money given to her to effect] the *kiddushin,* appreciates that it was given for that purpose and will guard it differently from the way in which she would guard a nut, a date or the like, she must perform the rite of *mi'un* [to nullify her marriage].
If she does not know to guard [the money given to her to effect] the *kiddushin*, she need not perform the rite of *mi'un* [to nullify her marriage]. Instead, she returns to her mother's home as if she had never been consecrated. If she is less than six, even if she knows [how to guard the money given her,] she need not perform the rite of *mi'un*. If she is more than ten, even if she is very inept, she must perform the rite of *mi'un*.
Whenever a girl's brother, mother or relatives arranged for her marriage without telling her of the identity of the groom, she need not perform the rite of *mi'un* [to nullify her marriage]. [8] What does the rite of *mi'un* entail? She tells two witnesses: "I no longer desire my husband so and so," "I no longer desire to be consecrated [to the man] to whom my mother - or my brother - consecrated me," or the like.
[The above applies] even if the two individuals are guests dining in her husband's home and she is serving them. If she tells them, "I no longer desire my husband so and so," she has performed *mi'un*. [9] The two individuals in whose presence the minor performs the rite of *mi'un* should write the following for her: "On this and this day, _______________the daughter of _____________ rejected her husband." They sign the document and give it to her. This is the essential portion of a deed of *mi'un*.
A deed of *mi'un* does not resemble a bill of divorce, in which the giving of the bill effects the divorce. It need not be written with the proper intent, nor must it be transferred, nor do any of the laws required for a bill of divorce apply with regard to it. The wording used for a *get* is not used for it, lest it appear to be a *get*. It is merely a legal record. [10] The two individuals before whom a girl makes a statement of *mi'un* must know the identity of the girl and her husband. Therefore, whoever sees [a girl] make a statement of *mi'un* [in the presence of two other people] and hears that statement, is entitled to write a legal record of this statement, even though he was not aware of [the girl's] identity beforehand.
It has become customary for the Jewish people to write a legal record of a statement of *mi'un*, employing the following text. [11] A legal record of a statement of *mi'un*:
On this day of the week, and on this day of the month, in this year according to the following reckoning, so and so, the daughter of so and so (her father's name) issued a protest in our presence, saying: "My mother or my brother misled me and had me married - or consecrated - to so and so, the son of so and so (his father's name) while I was a minor. I am now making a statement in your presence that I do not desire him, nor can I live with him." We have had so and so undergo a physical examination, and it has been established that she is still a minor. [Hence,] we have written and signed this [legal document] and have given it to her to serve as support and clear evidence.
So and so, the son of so and so (his father's name), a witness;
So and so, the son of so and so (his father's name), a witness.
[12] When a man divorces his wife, and she becomes consecrated to another man, she is forbidden to her first [husband], even though she has not engaged in marital relations [with her second husband]. If her first [husband] remarries her and engages in sexual relations with her, he [transgresses a negative commandment, and] is punished by lashes. He is forced to divorce her, as [implied by Deuteronomy 24:4]: "Her first husband, who sent her away, may not [return and remarry her]." [13] If she engaged in promiscuous relations with another man while she was divorced, she is permitted to remarry her husband, for it is written [Deuteronomy 24:2]: "And she departed from his home and went and became another man's [wife]." It is "becom[ing] another man's [wife]" - i.e., being consecrated - which causes her to become forbidden to remarry her [first] husband. [14] Included in this prohibition is that every woman who engaged in adulterous relations becomes forbidden to her husband. He is punished by lashes [for engaging in marital relations with her],as [implied by the inclusion of the phrase] "after she has become tainted" in [Deuteronomy 24:4]: "And [an adulterous woman] has been tainted." There is one exception: the wife of an Israelite who was raped.
Therefore, whenever a woman becomes forbidden to her husband, because she violated his warning against entering into privacy with another man, and he engages in relations with her, he is punished by stripes of rebellion. If after divorcing his wife [for such reasons], the husband transgresses and remarries her, he must divorce her. [15] A deaf-mute may divorce his wife with signals, as explained. [If such a woman] went and became consecrated to another deaf-mute [and is then divorced], she is forbidden to be remarried to her first husband. Needless to say, [this applies if her second husband] was a mentally competent individual.
If, however, a woman who had been married to a mentally competent individual and was divorced, married a deaf-mute and was divorced, she is permitted to remarry her first husband. [16] A girl who leaves her husband by virtue of the rite of *mi'un* is not considered to be divorced by him. The laws applying to her relations with her husband whom she rejected are the same as those applying to a man who has never consecrated her. She is permitted to marry his relatives. He is permitted to marry her relatives. Nor is she disqualified from marrying into the priesthood.
If she married another man and was divorced or widowed, or she nullified her relationship with him through *mi'un*, she is permitted to remarry him. Moreover, even if her first husband divorced her [while she was still a minor], remarried her, she then nullified their relationship via *mi'un* and married another man and was divorced by him, she may remarry her first husband.
[The rationale is that] whenever a girl leaves a marriage via the rite of *mi'un*, it is considered as if she had never been divorced via a *get*, and she may remarry her first husband. [This applies] even if she was once divorced [by this man] before *mi'un*.
When, by contrast, a man divorces his wife - who is a minor - with a *get*, she marries another man and then nullifies the marriage through *mi'un*, she may not remarry her first husband, because although her final marriage was terminated by *mi'un*, her marriage [to her first husband] was terminated by a divorce. Needless to say, this applies if the second husband divorced her or he died.
Similarly, she is forbidden to the father of her first husband, his son and his brothers, as are other divorced women. [This applies despite the fact that] she terminates her marriage to her second husband via *mi'un*. [17] When a girl nullifies her connection to a *yavam* through *mi'un*, she remains forbidden to his father, for she appears to be his daughter-in-law, since [that was her status] when his son died. She is, however, permitted to marry [her late husband's] other relatives. Thus, although she rejected a potential *yavam* with *mi'un*, she is permitted to marry his brother. [18] Whenever a woman is divorced or widowed, she should neither marry nor be consecrated until 90 days pass between the day she was divorced or her husband died and the day on which she became consecrated. [This interval was required] to see whether or not she is pregnant, and thus to differentiate between the seed of the first husband and the seed of the second husband. [19] We count [these 90 days] from the day the *get* is written; [this applies] even when it was written on a conditional basis, or it did not reach the woman until years afterwards. [The rationale is] that from the time [a *get*] is written, [a woman's husband] no longer enters into privacy with her. [20] [Included] in this decree of our Sages is that even a woman who is not fit to give birth, and even one who was divorced or widowed after merely being consecrated, must wait 90 days. I.e., even a minor, an elderly woman, a barren woman or an *aylonit*, even a woman whose husband was overseas, sick or imprisoned, and indeed, even a woman who is a virgin despite being consecrated, must wait 90 days. [21] A maidservant who was freed and a non-Jewish woman who was converted are required to wait 90 days [before they marry]. Even a gentile and his wife who convert together are required to separate for 90 days to differentiate between seed that was conceived in holiness and seed that was not conceived in holiness.
Similarly, although the Torah prescribed only [an interim of] 30 days for her own sake, a *yefat to'ar* must wait 90 days [to marry her captor] for the sake of the definition of her child's [status]. The 30 [days mentioned by the Torah] are included in the 90-day interim. [22] A girl who annuls her marriage through *mi'un* need not wait [before remarrying]; our Sages' decree applied only to a divorcee. Similarly, a woman who has promiscuous relations need not wait, for she guards herself against becoming pregnant. Similarly, a woman who was raped or seduced need not wait. [23] [The following rule applies when] a girl below the age of majority who is not fit to give birth was married under a mistaken conception, discovered that she is forbidden to remain married to her husband and was forced to separate by the court. She need not wait, for this is an unlikely occurrence, and our Sages did not apply their decrees to situations that are out of the ordinary. [24] When, within this 90-day period, [a man] consecrates [a woman who is required to wait], he is placed under a ban of ostracism. If he consecrates the woman and then temporarily flees [to a distant country], he is not placed under a ban of ostracism. If he consummates the marriage within the 90-day period, the couple are forced to separate until the conclusion of the interval, at which time they are allowed to live together as man and wife. [25] Similarly, our Sages decreed that a man should not marry a woman who is pregnant with a child conceived by another man, or a woman who is nursing a child conceived by another man, even though the parentage of the fetus is known.
[The restriction concerning] a pregnant woman [was instituted,] lest [the other man] harm the fetus during sexual relations, for he is not concerned about his colleague's child. [And the decree concerning] a nursing mother [was instituted], lest the woman's milk spoil and her second husband fail to show concern for restoring her ability to nurse, by providing her with a diet that will remedy her difficulty. [26] For how long is the woman considered to be a nursing mother? For twenty-four months. This does not include the day the child was born, nor the day the woman becomes consecrated. [27] Just as it is forbidden to marry such a woman, it is forbidden to consecrate her until this time period passes. Even if [a woman] gives her child to a nursemaid or weans him during these 24 months, she should not marry. If her son dies, she is permitted to marry. We do not fear that perhaps she will kill [her son for this reason]. [28] If a man transgresses and marries a pregnant or nursing woman during this period, he should divorce her, even if he is a priest. If the man is an Israelite, he may remarry her after the 24 months of nursing pass.
If [a man] marries [such a woman] and then flees and returns after [the prescribed] period and lives together with his wife, there is no difficulty.
[A man who] consecrates a pregnant or nursing woman is not forced to divorce her. He may not, however, consummate the marriage until the nursing period passes or until the child dies.
Version: Mishneh Torah, trans. by Eliyahu Touger. Jerusalem, Moznaim Pub. c1986-c2007
Source: https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH001020101/NLI
License: CC-BY-NC