Judith Levine, author of Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting
Children from Sex, is a Jewish "bad guy." Critics attacked Ms. Levine's
book, saying it advocated sex between children and adults. Newhouse News
quoted Ms. Levine on the Roman Catholic pedophilia scandal: "'Yes,
conceivably, absolutely' a boy's sexual experience with a priest could be
positive."(19) Ms. Levine later said the reporter had misunderstood her

Ms. Levine's book favorably cites the Rind study and, in a telephone
interview, she defended the study as "methodologically meticulous."

… Ms. Silberg, the Baltimore psychologist, agrees that the "whole
academic movement" to legitimize sex with children "is growing."

Talmud Permits Child-Adult Sex

Talmud law permits sexual intercourse between children and adults. This
doctrine is contained in a number of Mishnahs.

MISHNAH. WHEN A GROWN-UP MAN (7) HAS HAD SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH (8) A
LITTLE GIRL, (9) OR WHEN A SMALL BOY (10) HAS INTERCOURSE WITH A GROWN-UP
WOMAN, OR [WHEN A GIRL WAS ACCIDENTALLY] INJURED BY A PIECE OF WOOD (11) —
[IN ALL THESE CASES] THEIR KETHUBAH IS TWO HUNDRED [ZUZ] …

Let's review the above-cited Mishnah: "When a grown-up man has had sexual
intercourse with a little girl, or when a small boy has intercourse with a
grown-up woman …" It is obvious that sex activity between a grown man and
a little girl, and between a grown woman and a little boy, is a part of
the woof and the warp of everyday Talmud life; such relationships, in the
eyes of the Sages, are unremarkable. There is no prohibition on sexual
activity between adults and young children — it is simply regulated.

Thus, if the Talmud permits girls three years old and younger to be
sexually used by adults, that is the law. The concern of the Sages is to
ensure that the adult is not, technically speaking, in violation of any of
the rules.

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Regenerating Virginity

In the Gemara that follows the Mishnah of Kethuboth 11a (cited above), the
Sages discuss the issues. They say having intercourse with a girl younger
than three is like putting a finger in the eye. Rabbi Dr. Daiches explains
in the footnotes that, just as tears come to the eye again and again, so
does virginity come back to the little girl under three years.

GEMARA. Rab Judah said that Rab said: A small boy who has intercourse
with a grown-up woman makes her [as though she were] injured by a piece of
wood. (1) When I said it before Samuel he said: 'Injured by a piece of
wood' does not apply to (2) flesh. Some teach this teaching by itself: (3)
[As to] a small boy who has intercourse with a grown-up woman, Rab said,
he makes her [as though she were] injured by a piece of wood; whereas
Samuel said: 'Injured by a piece of wood' does not apply to flesh. R.
Oshaia objected: WHEN A GROWN-UP MAN HAS HAD INTERCOURSE WITH A LITTLE
GIRL, OR WHEN A SMALL BOY HAS INTERCOURSE WITH A GROWN-UP WOMAN, OR WHEN A
GIRL WAS ACCIDENTALLY INJURED BY A PIECE OF WOOD — [IN ALL THESE CASES]
THEIR KETHUBAH IS TWO HUNDRED [ZUZ]; SO ACCORDING TO R. MEIR. BUT THE
SAGES SAY: A GIRL WHO WAS INJURED ACCIDENTALLY BY A PIECE OF WOOD — HER
KETHUBAH IS A MANEH! (4) Raba said, It means (5) this: When a grown-up man
has intercourse with a little girl it is nothing, for when the girl is
less than this, (6) it is as if one puts the finger into the eye; (7) but
when a small boy has intercourse with a grown-up woman he makes her as 'a
girl who is injured by a piece of wood,' and [with regard to the case of]
'a girl injured by a piece of wood,' itself, there is the difference of
opinion between R. Meir and the Sages.

— Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Kethuboth 11b
Soncino 1961 Edition, page 57-58
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