The Book of Adolescence

Chapter 1

Discussion About the Conditions of Maturity and Its Rulings That Are Common to Human Males and Females

We say that the conditions of maturity shared by [both] human males and females are three.

The first condition is when the person reaches the state in which they are obligated to perform the rational commandments, that is, those commandments that we would have known through our rational faculty even had we not heard about them [from tradition]. For example, declaring the unity of God and the attributes of being and action. Or, for example, the excellence of justice and truth, which deviate from every kind of abomination. And, for example, that injustice and falsehood are ugly, and so on.

As for when the person reaches the state in which he is obligated to perform the particular commandments, it is what we have already discussed in the introduction of this book, with respect to the perfection of one’s intellect. When God makes one’s intellect perfect, one becomes obligated to investigate proofs, and [investigation] is what produces in one knowledge about what is investigated. And what proved to us the correctness of what we mentioned in this respect is the obligation of intelligizing it, for it is not possible that “hearing” [i.e., tradition] would remove the obligation [of intellection]. Whenever God completes a person’s intellect, regardless of whether it happens at the age of thirteen, or before that, or after that—even several years after that—the obligation mentioned above falls upon them. It does not depend on a fixed period or on a determined number of years, but only on the completion of the intellect. One is not obligated to perform any of the commandments before one’s intellect is complete. As for the distinguishing marks that characterize the completion of the intellect and the things by means of which it becomes complete, we have already mentioned them in our book on the laws, and we will not repeat them here because the matter is extensive.

The second condition consists of one reaching the age of thirteen. If one reaches the age of thirteen and is in full possession of rational faculties, one becomes obligated to perform all the commandments transmitted by tradition, even if one has not grown [pubic hairs], with the exception of some special legal acts that we will mention later, which depend upon the growing [of the pubic hair]. And what proved to us the correctness of what we mentioned is the saying of the sages: At the age of thirteen, [they are obligated] to [observe] the commandments—despite the fact that the ruling concerning boys and girls in this respect is different, as we will explain.

The third condition is “growing,” that is, if a person has grown pubic hair, even if only two hairs, one has reached maturity and puberty, regardless of whether the person is male or female [see m. Niddah 5:6, b. Kiddushin 16b].