| rdfs:comment | - Moral agency in Judaism is somewhat different to its treatment in other cultural spheres. As in many cultures and nations, minors and the insane (Hebrew: shoteh) were not regarded as being responsible for their actions. However, in Judaism, the definition of a minor - somone who has not reached the Jewish age of majority - included people in their 20s and early 30s, if they had no visible sign of puberty at age 20; conversely, a child ceased being a minor at age 12 (if female) or 13 (if male), as long as they had signs of puberty at this age. As in many legal systems, insanity has a somewhat nuanced definition; in classical Judaism, insane, as far as it concerns questions of moral agency, refers to confirmed maniacs, people with severe mental retardation, if they show signs of derangement
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| abstract | - Moral agency in Judaism is somewhat different to its treatment in other cultural spheres. As in many cultures and nations, minors and the insane (Hebrew: shoteh) were not regarded as being responsible for their actions. However, in Judaism, the definition of a minor - somone who has not reached the Jewish age of majority - included people in their 20s and early 30s, if they had no visible sign of puberty at age 20; conversely, a child ceased being a minor at age 12 (if female) or 13 (if male), as long as they had signs of puberty at this age. As in many legal systems, insanity has a somewhat nuanced definition; in classical Judaism, insane, as far as it concerns questions of moral agency, refers to confirmed maniacs, people with severe mental retardation, if they show signs of derangement (such as inexplicably destroying their clothes, or persistently putting themselves in unnecessary danger), and people sufficiently intoxicated that they are likely to suffer loss of consciousness. According to the Talmud, if a person's insanity is only temporary (as, for example, with intoxication), they should be regarded as having moral agency during the periods in which they are lucid. Classical Judaism required that all testimony be given verbally; the mute therefore were not permitted to give testimony. Correspondingly, witnesses were required to be able to hear, and so the deaf were not permitted to act as witnesses. Deaf-mutes (Hebrew:heresh) - people who are both deaf and mute - were regarded as having no moral agency at all, as far as ritual and law were concerned; except, that is, for testimony which would release a chained woman from her marriage. The insane and minors were also forbidden, by the Talmud, from acting as witnesses.
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