This week’s Torah portion is called Mishpatim, which
means “laws”. It lays out 53 civil laws, including several designed to protect the
rights of women -- the unmarried, the married and the widowed.
In Biblical times, a woman without a dowry was
unmarriageable and, sadly, destined to live without a husband or children. Therefore,
if a Jewish father was so poverty-stricken that he could not afford the dowry required
to eventually marry off his daughter, he could sell his young daughter as a
“bondmaid” to a wealthier Jewish family. The girl could work for the family, usually
as a “mother’s helper” taking care of smaller children and doing household
chores. When she came of age (12 and a day), she would have earned enough money
to marry. Usually she would marry the purchaser/master or his son. This
practice ensured that every woman, regardless of her economic status, could be
in a position to marry.
This week’s Torah portion establishes the laws concerning
the bondmaid and teaches, by extension, a husband’s basic obligations to his
wife -- how he must provide for her and care for her: “And if he [the
master] designates her [the bondmaid] for his son, he [the son] shall deal with
her according to the law of the daughters [of Israel]. If he takes
another [wife] for himself, he shall not diminish her [the bondmaid’s] sustenance,
her clothing or her frequency of marital relations.”
From these verses, we learn that a married man must fulfill
three basic Torah obligations to his wife: he must supply 1. food, 2. clothing
and 3. intimacy. Talmud (Ketubot 61b, 62b) elaborates on the third provision, which varies depending
on the husband’s occupation. A sailor is required to be intimate with his wife twice
a year; a camel driver, once a month; a Torah scholar, once a week, preferably on
Friday evening.
The rabbis later imposed additional spousal obligations to protect
a woman and ensure that she would be taken care of in the case of death (her
own or her husband’s) or divorce. The
rabbis also mandated that a husband pay his wife’s medical expenses and pay ransom
if she is kidnapped.
http://rabbibuchwald.njop.org/2011/01/24/mishpatim-5771-2011/
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