Question: What is a Seris Chamah?

Answer (R. Yitzchak bar Yosef): It is one who was a Seris from birth.

Question: How do we know that he was a Seris from birth?

Answer (Abaye): When he urinates, it does not make an arch.

Question: What causes a man to be a Seris Chamah?

Answer: His mother baked in the heat of the afternoon, and drank mixed (some say - strong) beer.

Rav Yosef: I had heard my mother say, 'Anyone who was stricken from birth'. Now I know what she referred to.

Question: We should be concerned lest he got better in the interim (and if he was once fertile, Yibum and Chalitzah apply to him)!

Answer: Since he was and is a Seris at the beginning and the end, we are not concerned lest he was better in the middle.

Question (Rav Mari - Beraisa - R. Chanina ben Antigonus): We check (a firstborn animal with a blemished eye) three times within 80 days. (We are concerned lest it improved in the middle!)

Answer: We are concerned that one limb recovered in between, but not that the entire body did.

(Mishnah - R. Eliezer): No, rather (a Seris Chamah does Chalitzah).

Contradiction (Mishnah - Beis Hillel): If a 20-year old man did not bring two hairs, he proves that he is 20, and (that) he is a Seris. He does not do Chalitzah or Yibum;

If a 20-year old woman did not bring two hairs, she proves that he is 20, and (that) she is an Ailonis. She does not do Chalitzah or Yibum;

Beis Shamai says, the age for both of them is 18;

R. Eliezer says like Beis Hillel (20) for a man and like Beis Shamai (18) for a woman, since women mature faster.

Answer #1 (Rami bar Dikuli): R. Eliezer retracted his opinion.

Question: Which did he retract?

Answer (Beraisa - R. Eliezer): A Seris Chamah does Chalitzah and Chalitzah is done to his wife, because in Alexandria they have a cure for this.

Answer #2 (R. Elazar): R. Eliezer did not retract. The Mishnah (of 18 and 20 years) discusses when they are considered adults to be punished for sins.

(Rav): If one ate Chelev between the age of 12 and 18, then brought Simanim of being a Seris, and later brought hairs, (s)he becomes an adult retroactively. (Rashi, Tosfos - we discuss a female; Ramban - we discuss a male.)

(Shmuel): (S)he was a minor when (s)he ate.

Question (Rav Yosef): (R. Meir says that there is no fine for raping or enticing a minor.) According to Rav, R. Meir should say that there is a fine for an Ailonis (since retroactively she was a Na'arah)!

Answer (Abaye): No, she jumps from being a minor to a Bogeres. She was never a Na'arah.

Rav Yosef: I should merit that such teachings be said in my name!

Support (Beraisa): A Seris cannot become a Ben Sorer u'Moreh (a rebellious son), because Ben Sorer u'Moreh applies after he brings hairs below. The laws of Na'arah Me'orasah do not apply to an Ailonis, since she jumps from being a minor to a Bogeres.

(R. Avahu): One with signs of being a Seris or Ailonis is not considered an adult until 20. Until 20 years we do not consider a baby born after eight months of pregnancy (to be alive - Rashi; Nimukei Yosef - to be an adult).

Question: An eight-month baby cannot live!

(Beraisa): An eight-month baby is like a rock. One may not move him on Shabbos, but his mother may bend down to let him nurse, because of danger (to both of them).

Answer: The case is, there are Simanim that he is viable:

(Beraisa) Question: What is an eight-month baby?

Answer #1: It is one who was not in the womb the proper time;

Answer #2 (Rebbi): There are Simanim of this. His hair and nails are unfinished;

If they are finished, we assume that he is a seven-month baby that delayed a month before being born.

Question: A case occurred, and a woman gave birth 12 months after her husband went overseas. Rabah Tosfa'ah ruled that the child is Kosher;

Is this like Rebbi, who says that a baby may delay in the womb (unlike Chachamim)?!

Answer: R. Shimon ben Gamliel agrees, so they are like a majority.

(Beraisa - R. Shimon ben Gamliel): Any child that lives 30 days is viable. (Even if he was born in the eighth month, we say that he was a seven-month baby that came out late).

(Beraisa): Any male who did not bring two hairs within 20 years is a Seris Chamah, even if he brings hairs later. The (other) Simanim are:

He has no beard;

His hair is soft;

His skin is smooth;

R. Shimon ben Gamliel says, his urine does not foam;

Some say, when he urinates it does not make an arch;

Some say, his semen is watery;

Some say, his urine does not putrefy;

Others say, when he bathes in winter his body does not give off steam;

R. Shimon ben Elazar says, his voice is stricken, and one cannot discern his gender from it.

Any female who did not bring two hairs within 20 years is an Ailonis, even if she brings hairs later. The Simanim are:

She has no breasts;

Bi'ah is painful for her;

R. Shimon ben Gamliel says, she does not have curved hips.

R. Shimon ben Elazar says, her voice is deep, and one cannot discern her gender from it.

(Rav Huna): One must have all the Simanim of a Seris to be a Seris.

(R. Yochanan): One of them suffices.

When he has two hairs in the beard, all agree that he is a Seris only if he has all the Simanim. They argue when he lacks two hairs in the beard.

Question: Rabah bar Avuha said 'Check Rav Nachman. If he gives off steam when he bathes, I will marry my daughter to him.' Was this like Rav Huna?

Answer: No, it is even like R. Yochanan. Rav Nachman had patches of hair in the beard.

(Mishnah): A Seris does not do Chalitzah or Yibum. Also, an Ailonis ...

The Mishnah discusses a Seris similar to an Ailonis. Just like an Ailonis is b'Yedei Shamayim, also the Seris.

This Seifa was taught anonymously. It is like R. Akiva, who says that a Seris Adam does Chalitzah, but a Seris b'Yedei Shamayim does not.