Una donna di vent'anni che non ha prodotto due peli [pubici], dovrebbe dimostrare di avere vent'anni e di essere un'aiylonit [una donna sterile]: non prende parte alla chalitzah [la cerimonia eseguita in alternativa modo di liberare la vedova di un uomo senza figli dall'obbligo di attendere il matrimonio levirato], né yibum . Un uomo di vent'anni che non ha prodotto due peli [pubici], dovrebbe dimostrare che ha vent'anni, ed è un eunuco: non prende parte alla chalitzah , né allo yibum , secondo Beit Hillel. Beit Shammai dice: questo e quello entrambi [sono considerati sterili se non hanno prodotto peli] all'età di diciotto anni. Il rabbino Eliezer dice: riguardo al maschio è in accordo con Beit Hillel, e per quanto riguarda la femmina è in accordo con Beit Shammai, poiché una donna arriva [alla maturità] prima di un uomo.
Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
והיא אילונית – meaning to say, and it is necessary that they will see I her signs of being a sexually undeveloped woman. For if signs of being a sexually undeveloped woman are not seen in her even though she is twenty-years of age and has not brought forth yet two [pubic] hairs she is still a minor, until she will be thirty-five years and one day old. But if she did not bring forth two [pubic] hairs, then, even though the signs of being an undeveloped woman have not appeared in her, this [woman] is a sexually undeveloped woman. And we explained the signs of a sexually undeveloped woman [at the beginning] of the first chapter of [Tractate] Yevamot (Mishnah 1).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Niddah
Introduction
Today's mishnah deals with a male or female who never show signs of hitting puberty. A female in this category is called an aylonit, which probably comes from the word "ayil" ram. And a male is called a "saris" which is the Hebrew word for eunuch. The laws of this mishnah can also partly be found in Yevamot 8:5.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
לא חולצת ולא מתיבמת – and she is permitted to marry to any in the market/street, for the All-Merciful freed her, as it is written (Deuteronomy 25:6): “The first son that she bears [shall be accounted to the dead brother, that his name not be blotted out in Israel],” excluding the sexually undeveloped woman, who does not give birth.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Niddah
If a woman at the age of twenty did not bring forth two hairs, she must bring evidence that she is twenty years of age and she is an aylonit, she doesn't perform halitzah or yibbum. If a woman turns twenty and has not yet hit puberty, meaning she has no pubic hair, and can prove that she is twenty, then she is an aylonit, a woman who is unable to procreate. If she is married and her husband dies without offspring she is not subject to the laws of levirate marriage halitzah or yibbum. This is because she is unable to procreate.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
והוא סריס – meaning to say, that there appeared in him the sins of being a eunuch/impotent. For if there hadn’t appeared in him the signs of being a eunuch, he is still a minor, until he will be thirty-five years and one day old, for then, even if there didn’t appear in him signs of being impotent, it is known/assumed that he is impotent, since he did not bring forth two [pubic] hairs. But a eunuch does not perform Halitzah, as it is written (Deuteronomy 25:7): “to establish a name in Israel for his brother,” for this one is not the offspring of this one.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Niddah
If a man at the age of twenty years did not produce two hairs, he must bring evidence that he is twenty years old and he becomes confirmed as a saris and he doesn't perform halitzah or yibbum, the words of Bet Hillel. The same rules apply to a man who reaches age twenty. If his brother dies without children, he doesn't perform halitzah or yibbum with the widow. If there are no other brothers, then the widow does not require halitzah or yibbum at all. It is as if her husband died without a brother.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
רבי אליעזר אומר הזכר כדברי בית הלל – age twenty, if there appeared in him the signs of a eunuch, behold this is a eunuch/someone impotent.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Niddah
Bet Shammai says: with both of them at the age of eighteen. Bet Shammai disagrees with regard to the age at which we assume that the female is an aylonit and the male a saris. They hold that this assumption kicks in at 18, not 20 as held Bet Hillel.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
והנקבה – who is eighteen years old, if there appeared in her signs of a sexually impotent woman, according to the words of the School of Shammai. But the Halakha is not according to the Rabbi Eliezer.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Niddah
Rabbi Eliezer says: In the case of the male, according to the words of Bet Hillel, while in that of the female, in accordance with the words of Bet Shammai, since a woman matures earlier than a man. Rabbi Eliezer offers a compromise position. Since girls reach maturity earlier than do boys, the age for them is 18, as said Bet Shammai. For boys, Rabbi Eliezer agrees with Bet Hillel.
