According to Rashi on chumash (Breishis 25:20 and 25:26), Yitzchak avinu married Rivka when she was 3 years old, ten years before she was able to become pregnant. How can we understand this in light of our gemarah?
Thanks, Shabbat shalom.
Chaim Stepelman
The mainstream opinion, as Paskened by the Rema (E.H. 23:5) in the name of Tosfos, is that the problem with marrying a Ketanah is not Shichvas Zera l'Vatalah, but rather that a person is abstaining from Piryah v'Rivyah (the Mitzvah of having children). Being that this is the case, Yitzchak Avinu was not putting off having children. He merely held that it was inappropriate for him to marry and have children from anyone besides Rivkah (as is apparent from the selective marriage arrangement employed by Avraham Avinu). There was therefore nothing wrong with his marrying her when she was a Ketanah, as he would not have been Mekayem Piryah v'Rivyah during those ten years in any event.
Kol Tuv,
Yaakov Montrose