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chapter eleven 8 The Divorcée and the “Rebellious Wife” the divorcée I t is a common assumption that the family unit in medieval Jewish society was strong and stable and that divorce was a rare phenomenon. However, this assumption, which even appears in research literature, is rather erroneous . Divorce was quite common, in some locales even more so than in contemporary Western society. During the course of the Middle Ages, discernable and significant changes took place regarding the Jewish woman’s right to initiate divorce and to receive suitable financial compensation, changes that originated in political changes and in the altered social and economic status of women. 1. The Biblical and Talmudic Heritage The Torah (Deut. 24:1) portrays the man as enjoying the exclusive prerogative of both establishing and dissolving the family unit. The decision and execution depend entirely upon the man’s will: He is the one to marry the woman, he is the one who decides on divorce, and he is the one to execute it. This is a natural outcome of the basic approach that perceives the woman as the property of the man. What was the attitude toward divorce as such? In the book of Malachi (2:15–16), one finds hints of a distinctly negative attitude:“So take care that no one break faith with the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the Lord God of Israel.” But the sense of these verses is ambiguous, and may also be interpreted to the detriment of the woman who, if she is hated by her husband, ought to be divorced. And indeed, the tannaim, amoraim, and even the medieval commentators disagreed regarding the interpretation of this verse. The Mishnah (m. Gittin 9.11) presents three opinions regarding divorce, based upon the above-mentioned verse in Deuteronomy: The School of Shammai said: A person should not divorce his wife unless he found in her some unseemly thing . . . The School of Hillel said: Even if she spoiled his food . . . Rabbi Akiva said: Even if he found another more attractive then she. The Talmud includes aphorisms describing divorce in negative terms,but these do not prohibit divorce as such, but only state the pain they cause God. On the other hand, the Talmud advises one who is married to a“bad”wife to divorce her. We search in vain for any comments about a bad husband and the way to free oneself of him. The sages certainly knew such people, but there was no point in discussing it as, according to Talmudic law, the husband alone has the right to divorce his wife while she has no corresponding option of that sort. In brief: The relevant biblical verses were open to varying interpretations; the biblical and Talmudic tradition placed few moral constraints upon the husband whose relations with his wife had soured and had begun to contemplate divorce, and no legal restraints upon him whatsoever. The ordinary Jew in the Middle Ages, his relatives, friends, and at times even the sages in his environment , could conclude from the biblical and Talmudic heritage that a husband is allowed to divorce his wife if she does not please him, even if she has done him no wrong. The large number of divorces in medieval Jewish society likewise drew upon this reality, even if other, economic and social factors, had far greater impact upon this. 2. The Attitude of Medieval Jewish Sages to Divorce The attitude of the medieval sages toward divorce finds expression primarily in their exegesis of the Bible and the Talmud, in speculative literature (philosophy and ethics), and in the responsa literature.1 Their views also had an impact upon the attitude of the society to divorce, as clearly follows from the sources referenced below. For the sake of brevity, we shall suffice with a discussion of the position of several of the leading sages, whose discussions focused upon the above-mentioned verses from Malachi and the controversy between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai concerning the interpretation of the verses from Deuteronomy . The medieval exegetes also used these verses as they wished, interpreting them in praise or censure of woman, in accordance with their own understanding and the reality in their locale. Some of them include an explicitly didactic tendency ,while ignoring the literal meaning of the verses and the rabbinic midrashim. As a rule,the verses in Malachi were interpreted in support of the woman,namely, that it is improper for a man...

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