[Avodah] Noda b'Yehudah - How And When To Take Tzedaka From a Married Woman

[Zev Sero]

On 23/02/2011 10:09 AM, Micha Berger wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 08:21:07AM -0500, Prof. Levine wrote:
>> Feminists will probably not like this. Furthermore, what if the wife is
>> the main wage earner in a family, as is the case in many Kollel
>> families, and yet she does not make the financial decisions in the home?

>>  From http://revach.net/article.php?id=1625
>> The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 248:4) says...
  
> I'm not sure the SA applies to the working kollel wife.
>
> The SA and NbY lived in eras when it was taken for granted that the wife
> didn't wave her claim to being supported, and therefore the husband owned
> maasei yadeha. [...]
> I would think a kollel wife, by waving her claim to mezonoseha gains
> ownership of maasei yadeha, and could give it to tzedaqa if she so wishes.

I don't even think the NbY was describing the situation in his day; as
I've pointed out before, the standard Ashkenazi tena'im (at least the
ones I've seen and heard) provide that the couple should have equal
control over their property.   Therefore it seems to me that a wife has
just as much right as her husband to give tzedakah.  But perhaps that
t'nai wasn't common in the NbY's day and place, or perhaps he assumes
as part of the shayla that in this case there was no t'nai, because if
there was one then there wouldn't be a shayla.

In any case, if anyone wants to see the NbY inside, it's here:
http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1447&pgnum=194

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                      - Margaret Thatcher