The following are the kinds of work a wife must perform for her husband: grinding wheat, baking bread, washing clothes, cooking, nursing her child, making her husband’s bed, and working in wool. If she brought him one bond woman (in her dowry) she need not grind, bake, or wash. If she brought two bond women, she need not cook nor nurse her child. If three, she need not make her husband’s bed or work in wool. If four, she may lounge all day in an easy chair. Rabbi Eliezer said: Even if she brought him a hundred bond women, he may compel her to work in wool, for idleness leads to unchastity. Rabbi Simeon be Gamaliel said: if a man forbids his wife under a vow to do any work, he must divorce her and pay her the amount stipulated in the Ketubbah, for idleness leads to stupefaction.
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Author: Talmud Ketubot
Keywords: Idleness, Wives, Godly woman, Bread of idleness, Sloth, Divorce
Bible reference(s): Proverbs 31:27, Ecclesiastes 10:18, Ezekiel 16:49
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