E-MAIL DARI SAHABAT YAHUDI

dari http://www.answering-christianity.com/age3.htm
I emailed a friend of mine, a former Jew who speaks Hebrew, and he further gave me more information regarding the Jewish view to marriage:

“I have just called up a seriously orthodox friend, a dealer in manuscripts with whom I do business, and a good fellow, to double check my response, and we are in perfect agreement. He runs a strictly orthodox and observant home and life, dresses in black, etc…I checked with him about it, as my own copy of the Code of Jewish Law is the shortened version, known as the “Kitzur Shulchan Aruch”. The full book is the “Shulchan Aruch”, which means “The Well-Set Table” (The Jews have a talent for clever book-titles).

This is the reference of brother Johnny Bravo’s Talmudic quotes

A girl must be 12 years old for marriage, but a 3-year old may be betrothed with the father’s approval. As for the permissibility of marriage to a minor (katanah) by coition…*Fuggedaboudit!!* as they say in the Mafia. My friend assures me that *humanitarian treatment* is the final authority. If a man did that, that is, had intercourse with a minor for purposes of marriage,it would be considered a crime, even if the father approved. A girl that young would be considered unable to make a momentous decision like that. And even if she were older than 12, if it were done by force, as if she were a Moabite captive, they would be made to divorce once the circumstances were known.

Furthermore, and very importantly, the Jews are *required* to observe the “deen hammalchut”…the laws of the country in which they reside, before applying their own halacha, or laws. So the short answer is, yes, marriage by coition is considered legal, but not with a katanah, and never by force. Betrothal to a katanah is OK, but the bride must reach puberty before actual marriage and consummation. Also, according to my own exceedingly imperfect knowledge, nowhere in the Talmud is betrothal to a minor by intercourse *recommended*. If all this were permissible in the days of the Mishna, well, those days are gone.”