What do Jewish text, law, and tradition say about domestic abuse?
They prove that abuse has always existed: How prevalent has abuse been in Jewish communities? Widespread enough that biblical, talmudic, and rabbinic scholars have discussed it in their writings of law and custom. If they were talking about it then, it must have existed. A clear biblical example appears in the 55th Psalm: “My heart is convulsed within me; terrors of death assail me…I said, O that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and find rest;…It is not an enemy who reviles me–I could bear that; it is not my foe who vaunts himself against me–I could hide from him; but it is you, my equal, my companion, my friend;…his talk was smoother than butter, yet his mind was on war; his words were more soothing than oil, yet they were drawn swords.
