A cleaner way, Masechet Sanhedrin, Perek (chapter) Chet, Mishnah Alef, if this Perek will talk about the Ben Sorer UMoreh, the wayward and rebellious son. The idea is that we're talking about this because we mentioned in the last Perek that there are certain aveirot, certain sins, for which a person gets killed—executed by the Bet Din (rabbinical court). This is one of them. The Ben Sorer UMoreh is a child who steals money, then uses that money to buy meat and wine and eats it. If he does this continuously, we say that he's so drawn to these habits that he's going to end up committing murder in order to satisfy the lifestyle he wants to live. He's going to be so used to these habits. The Torah tells us that if we fit very specific criteria, we put this person to death because we say that we want him to die innocent, as opposed to dying guilty later on, as the Mishnayot will continue to elaborate on in this Perek. But the sin has to happen during a certain time period of his physical development, which we'll elaborate on in this Mishnah.
The Mishnah asks, “At what age could he become a Ben Sorer UMoreh?” The Mishnah answers, “From the point in time when he grows two pubic hairs until he grows a so-called ‘beard,’” which we'll elaborate on. Before he grows any pubic hairs, he's considered too young to be a Ben Sorer UMoreh. After he grows a beard, he's considered too old, like a regular adult, and he wouldn't fit the category anymore. But then the Mishnah says, “What do we mean when we said ‘beard’ above?” What we mean by a beard is not that he is growing a physical beard on his face, but that we're talking about hair that grows in the pubic area. But we didn't want to say that straight out. Hachamim (the Sages) spoke and used the word “beard” because they wanted to have a refined way of saying the word. So when we said that the full beard grows in, it really means that the pubic area hair has fully grown in. Once that point happens, he's considered to be a full adult and wouldn't fit the category, or stage, of a Ben Sorer UMoreh.
We learn this out from the Pasuk (verse), where it says, “If a man has a son”: we learn two things from the word Ben. Ben velo bat: a Ben Sorer UMoreh could only be a son, not a daughter. Ben velo ish: it could only be a son, somebody who's young enough to be looked at as a son, and not a man. We say that someone who's a full man is somebody who grew all of the hair in that area, and therefore the Ben Sorer UMoreh wouldn't apply to him.
Ha-katan patur. Usually, when we talk about a Ben, we would say that it applies to all children, even someone who has not yet grown hairs in that spot. We would think that's what it refers to. So why do we say that a Ben Sorer UMoreh can't happen until he grows hairs? Why not earlier, when he's younger? Why can't he also be part of it? The Mishnah says the katan is exempt from the punishment of Ben Sorer UMoreh because he's not even involved in the category of people who follow the mitzvot (commandments). He's too young. He's not bound in mitzvot. So after we punish him for something that he's not bound by. Therefore, Ben Sorer UMoreh cannot apply to a minor. We learn from the word Ben that it applies to somebody who is just becoming an adult by growing hairs, but not somebody who's fully grown hairs and is past that stage of development. It wouldn't apply to him. So, there is a very limited period of time in which this could be involved, or a person could become a Ben Sorer UMoreh.