Our Gemara on Amud Aleph rules that a kattan (halachic minor) does not do semicha on a sacrifice, because he is not fully cognizant. The Minchas Chinuch (115) asks: how is it possible for a kattan to ever have his own sacrifice, such that we should need a specific ruling to exclude him? If he is not cognizant enough, he cannot either sanctify or dedicate a sacrifice.
The Chinuch explores various possible answers, such as if he is a muflah samuch l’ish, where he is still a minor but his oaths, and therefore sanctifications, are valid. (A muflah samuch l’ish is a minor who is within one year of bar mitzvah. If at that point he is cognizant of whom he is making an oath to (God), then according to some opinions his oaths are Biblically valid. Niddah 46a, see Rashi, and Rambam Nedarim 11:4.)
Sefer Daf al Daf quotes a question from Rav Birenbaum (Shu”t Rechash Levav 43) regarding the Chinuch’s reasoning. If the kattan is considered cognizant enough to dedicate a sacrifice, surely he is cognizant enough to perform a component ritual such as semicha.
However, I wonder if this is such a bomb kashe. Human nature is complex and contradictory. We might say, havu delo loseif alah! That is, we cannot extend a novel idea beyond its parameters. There is a tradition that a twelve-year-old’s cognizance is sufficient for oaths and dedications, but semicha requires a full sense of culpability, - and imagination - to transfer and consider the sin onto the animal. (We discussed some of the metaphysics of semicha in Yesterday’s Psychology of the Daf, Blogpost Menachos 92.) A kattan, even a precocious and mature kattan, might not be able to mentalize this adequately to perform a valid semicha.
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Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation
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Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, LMFT, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com