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chapter ten 8 Violence Toward Women H usbands’ violence toward their wives is discussed in both the Genizah sources and in the halakhic literature, suggesting that the practice was a common one, which weighed upon the institution of marriage. The sources indicate that it existed in various circles within society, and not only in the lowest ones.1 While the sages waged battle against it, they were only partially successful. We shall begin by examining the Talmudic tradition regarding this issue and the situation in the neighboring non-Jewish society, which greatly influenced the situation in medieval Jewish society. 1. The Talmudic Tradition The Bible nowhere refers specifically to the case of a person who treated his wife violently. Even in the Talmud, an explicit discussion of this issue is absent. However , the Tosefta does state that if a person beat his wife, the court may confiscate a portion of his property to buy with it land, which then becomes the wife’s personal property; nevertheless, the husband is permitted to enjoy the income derived from it (“and he eats its fruit”).2 This was a serious monetary penalty, one allowing the purchase of a plot of land. The fact that the husband is allowed to enjoy its income does not detract from the fact that a large monetary penalty was imposed upon him. Thus, the ruling indicates that wife-beating was perceived by the sages as a criminal act. Maimonides summarized the law regarding a husband who beat his wife as follows: A husband who struck his wife is required to immediately pay her damages and [compensation for] the shame and the pain, and it all belongs to her, and the husband has no share in their fruits [i.e. income]. And if she wished to give the money to another person she may do so: thus ruled the Geonim. And the husband must heal her just as he heals all her illnesses.3 From the words,“and the husband has no share in their fruits, and if she wished to give the money to another person she may do so,” we see that the Geonim were stricter regarding the case of a husband who hit his wife than was the Tosefta. The fact that the Talmud itself does not explicitly take up this issue, evidently indicates that its approach was that there was no distinction between a wife-beater and any other person who acts violently toward his fellow man. The medieval Jewish sages relied upon another Talmudic source as well, from which they inferred that a husband who behaved violently toward his wife is required to compensate her. This source speaks of a husband who causes harm to his wife during the course of sexual relations, bringing an opinion that he is to be held accountable, from which the medieval sages drew an analogy to the case of a violent husband as well. If a husband who unintentionally harmed his wife during intimate relations is held responsible for damages to her, all the more so one who deliberately struck her and without her consent.4 The medieval Jewish sages accepted in principle the view that the husband has no right to beat his wife, and that if he did so he is deserving of punishment. In principle, they deliberated three questions relating to this issue: (a) What is the punishment to be imposed upon the violent husband? (b) Is a husband permitted to hit his wife so as to force her to perform those household duties that she is required to do according to halakhah, or in order to educate her when her behavior is “improper”? (c) Is a husband’s beating of his wife valid grounds for divorce,even against the husband’s will? And what means may be used to force him to do so? The rabbis held a variety of opinions on all these questions, and as a rule those in Christian Europe were stricter with the violent husband than they had been previously. Their discussions enable one to uncover, not only the underlying “theory”(i.e., attitude to wife-beating), but also between the lines to discern the social reality—and at times there was a considerable distance between the two. 2. The Situation in Christian and Muslim Society Medieval people—whether Christians, Muslims, or Jews—considered the wife as subjugated to her husband and “under his hand.” Feudal society in Europe was based upon the view that in principle there is no...

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