Editing Women in Judaism (section)

=== Domestic life ===
[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Jewish Marriage Certificate - overall.jpg|thumb|Jewish marriage certificate, dated 1740 ([[Brooklyn Museum]])]]
[[File:Maroc juif - Meknès 1920.jpg|thumb|Moroccan Jewish women]]

Marriage, domestic violence and divorce were discussed by [[Rishonim|Jewish sages of the Medieval world]]. [[Marriage in Judaism|Marriage is an important institution in Judaism]]. The wife/mother is called "''akeret habayit''" in Hebrew, which in English means "mainstay of the house". In traditional and [[Orthodox Judaism]] the ''akeret habayit'' tends to the family and household duties.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1802936/jewish/Woman-in-Judaism.htm|title=What is the Role of the Woman in Judaism?|website=www.chabad.org|access-date=2016-10-20}}</ref>

[[Rabbeinu Gershom]] instituted a rabbinic decree ([[Takkanah|t''akkanah'']]) prohibiting [[polygyny]] among [[Ashkenazic]] Jews.{{sfn|Biale|1984|p=81}} At the time, [[Sephardic]] and [[Mizrahi Jews]] did not accept this ban.

The rabbis instituted legal methods to enable women to petition a [[Beit Din|rabbinical court]] to compel a divorce. [[Maimonides]] ruled that a woman who found her husband "repugnant" could ask a court to compel a divorce by flogging the recalcitrant husband "because she is not like a captive, to be subjected to intercourse with one who is hateful to her".<ref>[[Hilkhot Ishut]] 14:8</ref>{{sfn|Biale|1984|p= 91}}<ref>Kraemer, 345.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=January 2024}} Furthermore, Maimonides ruled that a woman may "consider herself as divorced and remarry" if her husband remained absent for three years.<ref>Kraemer, 289.</ref> This was to prevent women married to traveling merchants from becoming an ''[[agunah]]'' if the husband never returned.

The rabbis instituted and tightened prohibitions on domestic violence. [[Peretz ben Elijah|Rabbi Peretz ben Elijah]] ruled, "The cry of the daughters of our people has been heard concerning the sons of Israel who raise their hands to strike their wives. Yet who has given a husband the authority to beat his wife?"{{sfn|Grossman|2004|p=224}} [[Meir of Rothenburg|Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg]] ruled that, "For it is the way of the Gentiles to behave thus, but Heaven forbid that any Jew should do so. And one who beats his wife is to be excommunicated and banned and beaten."{{sfn|Grossman|2004|p=226}} He also ruled that a battered wife could petition a [[Beit Din|rabbinical court]] to compel a husband to grant a divorce, with a monetary fine owed to her on top of the regular ''[[ketubah]]'' money.{{sfn|Grossman|2004|p=222}} These rulings occurred in the midst of societies where wife-beating was legally sanctioned and routine.{{sfn|Grossman|2004|p=230}}