How Judaism views wifebeating.
[B]By Naomi Graetz[/B]
For many years there has been a myth that domestic violence among Jewish families was infrequent. However, there is much data demonstrating that domestic abuse is a significant and under-recognized behavior in Jewish communities in Israel and the Diaspora. Jewish women typically take a longer time to leave abusive relationships for fear that they will lose their children and because they are aware of the difficulties in obtaining a get, a Jewish divorce document.
Wifebeating in Rabbinic Literature
In biblical times, acts of sexual assault and abuse against women were of concern to the degree that they violated male property rights. The Bible delineated the marriage relationship by calling the husband ba'al which implies both ownership and lordship (Ex. 21:28). Thus, for example,if a wife is physically harmed by someone, compensation is paid to her husband. The husband is not only the owner of his wife, he is also the owner of her pregnancy (Ex. 21:22). If a man's "property rights" are violated, he is entitled to compensation.
In Mishnaic and Talmudic literature there is no reference to battered women as a class, and the Talmud does not discuss wifebeating as a distinct category of corporeal damage. The one major allusion to wife beating in the Talmud is couched in a discussion about the unlearned lower class, the am ha-aretz (lit. "people of the land"
Much of the discussion around beating of wives as "punishment" occurs in the context of the grounds for a divorce. Immodest behavior considered worthy of punishment includes "going out with uncovered head, spinning wool with uncovered arms in the street, conversing with every man." The list of women deemed worthy of being divorced without receiving their ketubah, ("divorce compensation"
The most useful source in the study of wife beating is the vast collection of Responsa literature, which includes rabbinic rulings (responses) to specific questions. These responsa date back to the period of the Geonim (7th-10th century C.E.) and continue to be written today. There are a variety of attitudes towards domestic violence found in these texts. Some decisors declare it unlawful, while others justify it under certain circumstances. Gratuitous abuse, striking a wife without a reason, is forbidden by all. However, the attitude of rabbinic sources toward perceived "bad wives" is ambivalent, and wife beating is occasionally sanctioned if it is for the purpose of chastisement or education.
A "bad wife" is one who does not perform the duties required of her by Jewish law, who behaves immodestly, or who curses her parents, husband, or in-laws. Rabbis regularly advised men to restrict their wives to the home and be responsible for educating them (e.g. Tsemach Gaon of. Eretz Yisrael (884-915), Solomon B. Abraham Aderet (11235-1310), Maimonides (1135-1204). Thus the husband is given a great amount of latitude in educating his wife. The rabbis who justify beating see it as part of the overall "duties" of a husband to chastise his wife for educational purposes (e.g. Maimonides, Israel Isserlein (c. 1390-1460), David b. Solomon Ibn Avi Zimra (Cairo, 1479-1573), Solomon Luria (c. 1510-1574).