For the source text click/tap here: Bava Batra 49
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According to Jewish law, what are some of the mutual responsibilities of husbands and wives?
This question is discussed by the Gemara in response to the Mishna’s teaching (see daf 42a) that ba’al be-nikhsei ishto – a husband working his wife’s property – will not gain a ḥazaka (presumption of ownership) on the field. Since the husband has legitimate reason to be on the field – he has rights to the produce – there is no reason for his wife to complain about his presence there, so his being there cannot support a claim that the field had been purchased by him.
The Gemara suggests: By inference, the husband has the ability to bring proof that he purchased the field from his wife or received it as a gift from her and consequently be regarded as the owner of the field.
The Gemara asks: Why is this proof decisive? Let her say: I did it, i.e., I gave or sold the field to my husband, only to please my husband, but I did not mean it.
We explore marriage in Greece and Rome and the modern concept of co-dependance and “husband pleasing”!