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Published Letters: 5
...in Jewish marriage. Sexual satisfaction is one of a married woman's rights according to Judaism; it's in the kesuba (marriage contract observant Jews use) and everything. Traditionally, husbands have different requirements based on if their jobs are physically strenuous or not. But it a husband doesn't do his duty, so to speak, it's grounds for his wife to ask for a divorce.
Contractually no. Sex is one of a woman's three basic rights in a marriage. (The other two are food and clothing.) And a man also can't force sexual relations on his wife. The argument I've heard is that if there wasn't a separate mitzva (commandment) for a man to pleasure his wife, it never would happen. Whether that's the real logic or just apocryphal I don't know.
However, a woman does not have an absolute right to withhold sex--she can't refuse him as a form of punishment, if she does, her husband can divorce her without paying the hefty divorce settlement required in the kesuba.
Sex is, on the whole, viewed as a very positive and important part of the Jewish marriage. And any stories you may have heard about sex through a hole in a sheet are pure urban legend.
No. The divorce amounts are also specified in the kesuba.
When the rabbis instituted the kesuba it was a means of allowing men with lower incomes to marry. The kesuba requires a husband to provide, roughly, enough to support his wife for one year in the event of a divorce. It was a way of allowing young men, essentially, to marry without paying the bride price. Both the bride price (which always belongs to her, and which she can take back after their marriage) and divorce allotment were ways of ensuring that a wife would be able to feed herself in the event of a divorce. The kesuba also requires similar support for a widow, and the widow's portion must be paid before the rest of the estate is settled. All of these guarded single women against poverty, something which was nearly inevitable for a widowed or divorced woman without the support of a husband or father in Ancient Israel.
The traditional kesuba requires a husband to give his wife 200 zus (a Talmudic unit of currency) in the event of a divorce. The rabbis calculated this to be the amount needed to support oneself for a year. This text is still largely held to by Orthodox Jews, though sometimes the amount is changed.
...I wouldn't wear these. Ever.
Many Orthodox Jews are what is called shomer negiah, literally, observant of touch. They do not touch anyone of the opposite sex outside of their immediate family. Spouses only touch for the first time after marriage. No touching before that. No kissing, no holding hands, nothing.
These are also the Orthodox communities that tend to have arranged marriages, to one degree or another. I'm amused that the Christians have now caught on.