We continue our study of the book Brit Shalom, chapter six, which deals with matters of family and love. There are several recommended forms of conduct discussed here. We began speaking about them last time, and the question is: when people marry, what obligations do they have toward one another beyond the exclusivity of the couple in matters of marital intimacy?
There are also financial obligations. The husband is obligated to provide for the material well-being of his wife. In Judaism there is a well-known document called the ketubah, in which the man commits at the time of marriage to care for his wife’s livelihood and her dignity. Therefore, it is fitting—and I also wrote about this in our prayer book Brit Olam—to have a form of commitment similar to the Jewish ketubah. That is what is written here: it is appropriate that marriage include a formal commitment by the husband to care for his wife’s welfare.
There are also additional laws that relate to a person’s life. Unfortunately, in modern culture boundaries have been breached, and there is often addiction to improper sights, pornography, and the like. Therefore, I wrote that one should avoid looking at immodest images, which truly degrade a person instead of elevating him. A couple is much happier when these boundaries are maintained. This is also connected to the additional prohibition of “You shall not covet,” mentioned in the Ten Commandments, the tenth commandment, and expressed here briefly as: one should not covet his fellow’s wife.
There are also the laws of family purity, which are connected to purification from periods such as the cessation of menstrual bleeding in women, and similar matters. There is a concept called a mikveh. There is absolutely no obligation for the descendants of Noah to use these practices, but Noahides who wish to observe the laws of family purity—known as the laws of niddah among Jews—are permitted to do so, if they feel that this practice adds purity to their lives.
