Below the fold, I cite the most significant Jewish and Christian authorities I know of which forbid domestic violence – specifically, spousal abuse.
Shimon Ben Zemach Duran (1361-1444),
in Hebrew שמעון בן צמח דוראן, often referred to as Rashbatz (רשב"ץ), is a classic
example of a rabbi who forbade wife-beating. Like Maimonides, he was a
physician. He also served as a rabbinic judge in Algiers, in northern Africa. In
reply to a request for legal advice in the case of a wife who endured abuse, Duran
wrote: "You can write that he should divorce her and give her the ketubbah….for
she was given for life, not for sorrow…and does not have to live in close
quarters with a snake…" In the same responsum, Duran stipulates
that "the rabbinic judge who forces a woman who rebelled to go back to her
[abusive] husband is following the law of the Ishmaelites and should be
excommunicated…"
The example is not quoted in David Stein’s excellent survey (but see
there, p. 32, and note 28), but David's survey provides a great deal of context for
understanding how the issue has been handled in Judaism. Against my usual
practice, I will not cite the relevant text of the example in Hebrew, simply because I don’t
have it on hand - perhaps David, Michael, David, or someone else can help me here.
In one of Paul’s letters, we read the
following (Colossians 3:19):
οἱ ἄνδρες
ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ μὴ πικραίνεσθε πρὸς αὐτάς
Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.
Clinton Arnold in the ESV Study Bible notes: “There was
a tendency in the Roman world for men to rage bitterly against their wives and
mistreat them. Because of their greater strength and louder voices, men in
their sinful natures are prone to use harsh words, threats, unkindness, and
even physical violence to intimidate their wives. There is no room for even a
hint of this in a Christian home.”
Comments