Shulchan Arukh Even HaEzer · Siman 82

Shulchan Arukh Even HaEzer 82 — English translation

Translation: Sefaria Community Translation. Section numbers match the Hebrew text above.

1. 1If a woman vowed that she would not nurse her child, we compel her and she nurses the child until [the baby] is 24 months old, whether [the baby] is male or female.
2. 2If she says: "I am breastfeeding my child, but [the husband] does not want [her to breastfeed]," we listen to her.
3. 3If she was so poor that she was required to breastfeed her child, and [her husband] was rich enough that he considered it appropriate for his wife not to breastfeed: if she is willing, he hires a wet nurse or buys a maidservant, since she should be elevated [in status] with him and she should not bring him down [in status].
4. 4If she says: it's appropriate to hire or buy a maidservant, and he says: it is not appropriate, [the burden] is on her to bring proof.
5. 5When a woman is divorced, we do not compel her to breastfeed her child, unless she wants to, in which case [her husband] pays her hire [as a wet nurse] and she breastfeeds [the baby]; and if she does not want to, she gives him his child and he raises [the baby]. Which situations are we talking about? That she may [choose to] not breastfeed it until it [is old enough that it] recognizes her, but if it recognizes her (Rem"a: and does not want to breastfeed from another), even if it is blind, we do not separate it [from her], because of danger to the infant, but rather we compel her and she breastfeeds it until it is 24 months old. Rem"a: And he pays her the hire of breastfeeding. And some say that even another woman, if she breastfeeds a baby until it [is old enough that it] recognizes her, we compel her [to continue] and she nurses it for hire, because of danger to the infant. And some say that this situation where a divorcee is not obligated to breastfeed if [the baby] does not recognize her, this is when another wet nurse is brought in and is available for hire, but if [the husband] does not have one, he compels her and she breastfeeds [the baby]; but if [the wife] already hired herself out to others [as a wet nurse], and that infant recognizes her, we do not force that infant [to stop breastfeeding from her] on account of her own child, rather the court hires a different wet nurse for her child.
6. 6A divorcee is not provided food, even if she is breastfeeding her child, but he gives her, in addition to her hire, things that the child will need, [such as] clothes and food and drinks and ointment and things like that, but a pregnant [divorcee] gets nothing.
7. 7When the months are over and [the child] is weaned, if the divorcee wants her child to be with her, we do not separate it from her until it is six full years old, but we compel the father and he provides food while [the child] is with its mother; and after six years the father may say: "if [the child] is not with me I will not provide food." And the daughter is with her mother forever, even after six years. How, if the father was wealthy enough to give tzedakah, we take from him against his will what is appropriate for her, and we feed her while she is with her mother; and even if the mother is married to another, the girl's father feeds her because of [the obligation of] tzedakah while her daughter is with her, until the father dies and she is fed after that from his possessions according to the stipulations of the marriage contract, while she is with her mother. Rem"a: And specifically when it seems to the court that the daughter should be with her mother, but if seems to them that it would be better for her to stay in her father's house, the mother cannot compel [her daughter] to be with her. If the mother dies, the maternal grandmother cannot compel the children to be with her.
8. 8If the mother did not want her children to be with her after they were weaned, whether male or female, that is her prerogative, and she may give them to their father, or send them to the [care of] the community if they do not have a father, and the community raises them, whether male or female.

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