A Husband May Not Diminish Her Food, Clothing, or Rights

"He takes another" (Exodus 21:10): one might think it is an obligatory decree; Scripture says "if" it is only optional. "He takes another": and not an ownerless one. "He takes another for her": this teaches that he is permitted to take for himself another woman for the sake of marriage. "He takes another for her" behold, the other is to him like this one: just as this one is acquired by a document, so too the other is acquired by a document. "Her food [she'erah]" (Exodus 21:10): this is sustenance, as in the matter of which it is said (Micah 3:3), "who ate the flesh [she'er] of my people." "Her clothing [kesutah]": this is her clothing. "And her conjugal rights [onatah]": this is the way of the world [marital relations], as in the matter of which it is said (Genesis 31:50), "if you afflict my daughters." Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: "her food, her clothing" give clothing according to the food, that he not clothe her in a young woman's garments in old age or an old woman's garments in youth. "Her clothing and her conjugal rights" give her clothing according to her season, that he not give her summer garments in the rainy days or rainy-season garments in the days of summer heat. "He shall not diminish" (Exodus 21:10): this teaches that he transgresses a negative commandment. What is "her conjugal time"? Each man according to his occupation. How so? Men of leisure, every night; craftsmen, twice a week; donkey-drivers, once a week; camel-drivers, once a month; sailors, once in six months; scholars of Torah, from one Sabbath eve to the next Sabbath eve. "He shall not diminish": this teaches that the wife rises with her husband and does not descend.