Life Cycle

Is it permitted for a Jewish person who has no desire to ever be married or have a romantic partner and would not be happy in a relationship to remain single by choice their entire life?

Does any form of the sororate or sorogate exist in Jewish Law? Did it exist post-Torah?  

How far do beds need to be separated in non clean days?

What is the Jewish view of elopement? My girlfriend and I are very much in love, but for reasons very personal to them, both my parents and hers forbid us to marry each other. A local rabbi our families have jointly consulted with said we should not marry each other because our parents objections would cause them too much embarrassment. We can’t take this and want to elope as soon as possible. If we go behind the backs of our parents and defy the local rabbi and get married in front of two witnesses, would our marriage be valid? Would it be cursed in any way? Would any children we have be tainted?

My wife complains that I get up at 430 am to study and pray, so I stopped doing that. She complains that I go and daven Neitz, so I stopped doing that. She complains that I am always at the shul, but I go three times a day to daven. When I want to study in the evening, she complains that I want, sometimes, to go to the Kollel and study, and at home, she complains that if I begin to study, I'm not spending time with her. So I end up having to watch TV with her, which is what she thinks is spending time, we then go to bed. She gets mad because I snore, so I tell her I will go downstairs and sleep on the couch so she can sleep; then she complains that I don't want to sleep with her. So I stay in bed and try not to sleep so that she can sleep. I'm trying, and I am lost at what to do.

I am wondering if using the funds in my wife’s bank account to pay for things she bought using her credit card when she objects to paying for these things is considered stealing on my part. Mainly because she naturally expects me to pay for them just because I’m married to her. The details of the situation are as follows: My wife and I have separate checking accounts, something we have both agreed is best after weighing all options. My wife is the primary account holder of the main credit card we use and I am an authorized user who also has a card. I earn 90% of our household income, and she earns the other 10%. I do the physical act of paying the credit card bills on her account because she doesn’t know how to and lacks the money to pay the full amount. I use my income to pay most of it. Both of our checking accounts are linked to the online payment system for this credit card, which only I know how to operate. Being linked makes paying the bills quick and easy. My wife has a habit of spending lots of money on luxuries she wants, which is very common among married women, and I don’t blame her. She does not discuss her spending with me in advance. I only know after the fact when I see the credit card statement. This is something I have grown to expect. When I use her money to pay for her things that she charged on her card, she feels I am stealing from her funds. What does Jewish law say about this? Is it considered that I am stealing? My view is that I am refusing to use my income to pay for things that she bought for herself without asking me in advance if I am willing to pay for it. Failing to make the full payment will cause us to pay interest, which we are trying to avoid. Counseling on this matter, whether it be from a rabbi or a secular marriage counselor, is not an option because she refuses to ever go to one and I cannot convince her to. And from a legal standpoint, neither of us would ever use the civil legal system against each other. Aside from this issue and the moments she complains about this, our marriage is very happy.

Hi, I was just wondering if you might be able to tell me if there are any inaccuracies in the following quotation: While many modern Jews hold more modern views, certain ancient Jewish rabbis apparently regarded sex with young boys as technically permissible: Rav [Rab] [the Jewish scholar Abba Arikha (175–247 CE)?] says...if a child who is less than nine years old engages in homosexual intercourse passively, the one who engages in intercourse with him is not liable. Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 54b, translated at Sefaria.org, http://www.sefaria.org ...Rab makes nine years the minimum; but if one committed sodomy with a child of lesser age, no guilt is incurred... Footnotes in Soncino Babylonian Talmud, edited by Rabbi Ezekiel Isidore Epstein et al., Come and Hear™ hypertext version, Halakhah.com, http://halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_54.html While some ancient Jewish leaders believed a man should not marry off his daughter as a child (Kiddushin 41a), others rabbis seem to have thought it is technically acceptable to have sex with a betrothed three-year-old girl: The Sages taught in a baraita: A girl who is three years old is betrothed through intercourse...And the Rabbis say: She must be three years and one day old...Rav Ḥisda said...If the girl is less than that age of three years and one day, intercourse with her is like placing a finger into the eye...If she is less than that age, intercourse with her is nothing...[A certain woman said to Rabbi Akiva]...[“This matter] is comparable to a baby whose finger one forcibly dipped in honey. On the first time and the second time, he moans at his mother for doing so, but on the third occasion, once he is used to the taste of honey, he willingly sucks the finger dipped in honey. She was insinuating to Rabbi Akiva that she engaged in intercourse several times, and although the first couple of times were against her will, the third incident was with her consent. Babylonian Talmud, Niddah 44b–45a, translated at Sefaria.org, http://www.sefaria.org