Rambam- Moses Maimonides

Rambam, was the preeminent medieval Jewish philosophers and one of the greatest Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. He worked as a rabbi, physician, and philosopher in Spain, Morocco and Egypt.

Prior to this year, I had studied a little about Rambam in college philosophy class. I also laughed each time I heard the name of a hospital in Brooklyn (MaimoNides) prounounced My-Mom-i-des. I always want to respond: Your-Mom-i-des.

Last week, I got to pray in the synagogue known for being the prayer center for the Rambam's later life in Fustat (Old Cairo) and this week he has been mentioned in almost every one of my classes.

I want to share one of what I think is the most amazing progressive and foward approaches to Halachah, taught in one of the MA courses that I have added this year, as shown through the Rambam's responses in two different Teshuvot (Halachic questions with answers).

Responsum 45
Question:
Our rabbi will teach us concerning (an incident whereby) a Jew had a wife who had been with him for a number of years. and in one of those years, he happened to take a trip because of several of his own affairs and for business matters, and he was absent from his city on and off for four years.

When he returned afterwards to his home, he found that his brother-in-law, his wife's brother, had become a teacher of children; and his sister, the wife of this man, was sitting with him and teaching the children; this was due to the fact that her husband had taught her some Torah and she learned the rest (of the Torah) while her husband was absent. (Sister=his wife, not brother-in-law's wife)

Her husband said to her: this is not proper for you to teach (these) children at all, for I fear their fathers who will come to visit their children, and you will be in an embarrassing situation because of them, and I do not want this, neither for my sake nor for your sake. And when the aformentioned wife heard this from him, she irritated him and refrained from doing her duties- those which the daughters of Israel must perform for thier husbands: kneading and cooking and making the bed and cleaning the house; washing clothes and fulfilling her duties to her sons- but she persisted in teaching the children at her brother's from morning until evening. And if it happened that he needed something for his own affairs, to cook or to knead or to launder or the like, he had to hire someone who would come and supply him with these needs, paying full fare. And this man with this woman continued in this situation for four years, and he is already weary of it.

This woman has part ownership jointly with her sister and with her mother-in-law, the mother of her husband: and he is afraid to divorce her, lest she take this aformentioned portion and sell it, and, as a result, the sons he had with her will be destitute, for she will give it to a different husband. And this particular woman has (it) written in her ketubbah concerning her husband: "He may not wed another woman, and he may not allow a maidservant who she despises to stay with him. And if he marries another, or if he permits a maidservant whom she despises to stay with him, he takes it upon heimself to pay (her) Me'uhar [delayed marriage payment in full and to write her a bill of divorce, so that she may be rid of him by this means, despite the fact that she wants to divorce him and he does not want a divorce]."

His eminance, determine for us: Does he have permission to engage in a second marriage, so that the other (the new wife) will remain under his authority, in order to prevent her (the first wife) from hastily selling the portion?, or not? An he will make it clear to us, what the obligagtion of the law is in every singe issue as an absolute answer; may your compensation be doubled.

Answer:
He may not make a second marriage unless he has her (the first wife's) permission or unless he redeems the Me'uhar. And he may prevent her from teaching the children and the court is required to admonish her and to deter her from doing this. If she sues for divorce, because her husband is preventing her from teaching, she will not be granted her request; on the contrary, all doors are locked before her and all paths are to be obstructed and her matters will be delayed for as long as it takes until she will renege and will be willing to behave correctly with her husband.
-Thus wrote Moshe.


And Responsum 34 (please note not necessarily the order received)
Question:
Concerning a man, who married a nine year old and she had a portion in common property with her mother-in-law and her (own) sister, and they all live in one courtyard. The mother of the aforesaid man obligated herself in writing to support thhe aforesaid woman for ten years, and she was supporting her for seven years. After those seven years, the aforementioned mother-in-law said to her: "I am unable to support you (plural)." And the husband has not enough (to support her) even for an hour's worth, and he was supporting her for two months. The young girl became pregnant and gave birth to a male child. And when he (the husband) saw, that supporting the household was difficult for him, he left the child with its mother when he was nine months old, and he travelled and was absent for three years in the Land of Israel and in Damascus and elsewhere, and he did not leave her anything to eat for dinner that very evening, not for her and not for the baby. And he returned from his journey and he has nothing of value on his person. The clerk who collects the head tax (tax of entry) caught him, for he did not have the 1/2 dirhem to pay it, until his father paid it for him. An his aforementioned wife and his mother had to pay the poll tax for him, for fear he would be led to jail; and he enteredthe courtyard and he is completely destitude.

He stayed in the city for two years. The wife became pregnant and gave birth to another son. And he (the father ) left him with her when he was a year and a half, and returned to travelling a second time, and did not leave her with even an hour's worth (of support) and disappeared for another three years. the aforesaid woman's age became twenty-five years (old) and she is in utter degradation from poverty, with two sons whose hunger outweighs their satiation. And all the time that she is with him, he did not provide oil for light for her, not during the week nor the Sabbath or on the holidays; and she could never benefit from the light of a lamp unless she entered his mother's home or his brother's home, since she lives with them in the courtyard. And she was "burned out" by the poverty and the terrible situation (in which she found herself).

And she has a brother who teaches children Bible and the woman has knowledge of the Bible. She asked her brother and requested of him to teach the children Bible with him, so that she could acheive a means of sustaining herself and her sons, since she is already close to dying of misery in which she is enveloped and he (the husband) is absent.

And he (the husband) came home from his travels and found her teaching Bible at her brother's. And she had been teaching the children with her brother for six years. Later, as it happened, her brother went on a journey. She sat in his place and received the children and had been teaching them Bible and continued for four years. Her firstborn son grew and his age was seventeen years and she took him with her to teach Bible for the aforementioned four years in her brother's stead, so as to talk with the men whose sons (were studying) with her, and she was (there) for the women coming to get their children.

And since the day the aforementioned sons were born, their father never paid the poll tax for them nor their school fees for the House of Torah study, and he did not clothe them at all, not clothing nor turban nor a shoe for their feet. And the woman is under his authority twenty-five years, and he never bought a mat to spread out under them but once, and did not buy a bed-covering or pilllow or any household goods; even linseed oil which she lights, if she would not buy her own, she never could have managed to light a lamp. Neither she nor the children have any pleasure from him, not even verbally, except for curses and foul language.

He told her: "Either you reside in your house like everyone else or you will give me the right to wed (another woman)." The aforesaid woman said to him: "I am already tired of poverty, which I has at first, adn my sons and I survived only since the day I taught the children." And she said to him: "If you want a divorce, I will release you and I will not detain you. But I should let you marry (another woman)?! I shall never do that!"

Despite the fact that he is at his mother's day and night, and if he buys something for a pittance, it is for him and his mother, and his wife knows nothing of this; and later he complains about her to everyone in the city, that she is not fulfilling his needs and she is not sleeping at home.

She told him: "We have no need of suck shame; come, I will take you from your mother's. If you slept at home, I would not prevent you. And if you want, come and live with me at the school (Talmud Torah) and rent out the portion that is mine in the partnership with your mother and my sister-and take the rent for yourself, for I (my ownership is/) am split in two courtyards and pay fourteen dirhem rent to the school, and the part that is mine in the courtyard, I gain no profit from it, not for the apartment nor for the rent, in that I forfeit my profit from is out of generosity to you and to your mother."

He said to her: "I will not rent it and I will not take the rent, but you will reside in your house like the rest of the daughters of Israel or you will grant me the right to marry another."

Later he made an excuse and said to her: "I will borrow a dinar and I will buy you wheat and you will sit (reside) at home."

She said to him: "My living is not like other professions, so that if I abandon it today, I can pick it up again tomorrow. If I abandon my students, even for one day, I will return and seek them out and I will not find them, for their parents will take them to other schools. And the people do not bring their children to the aforesaid older son, but (come) because of me, for he is but a lad. And the two aforementioned sons have no trade in which to work except Torah study. And if I discontinue teaching the children, I shall lose the children and there will be no wheat (bread) and you will travel and go off as is your custom and I will remain, the boys and I, and we will be lost, for they have no trade."

His holy eminence, may the Lord glorify him: Does she have to leave her profession and return to (what she had had) in the beginning? And does she have to fulfill his needs and to serve him, when he does not provide her with food or drink or clothes and does not do a thing for her that is said in the Torah. And is she obligated to give him permission to marry (another woman)? And inform us, what is the legal obligation in all that is written above? Make it clear to us, as we have been accustomed to his mercy. May your compensation be doubled from heaven.

Answer:
The law obligates the husband to be forced to fulfill his wife's needs, such as clothes and expenses and the like (other obligations) ans this is what he must do; and if he is prevented (from doing so) or if he is unable, he is forced to divorce her (by the court) and pay the me'uhar, if he possesses it. And the husband may prevent his wife from teaching a craft or reading. And the way of circumvention for this woman, if her words are words of truth, is for her to "rebel" and leave without the me'uhar; and he is them forced (by the rabbinic court) to divorce her and she will be her own woman, can teach whomever she pleases and do whatever she pleases.


Oh boy do I love this!
Rambam, way to shove your foot in your mouth from the first one- nice bounce-back!

**Translations are of:
The Responsa of Maimonides 1 (published in Judeo-Arabic with a Hebrew translation), Joshua Blau, Jerusalem, 1958.