What are Marriage (or, Marital) Rights?

 In a few verses in Exodus, Moses tells us what the husband's requirements & obligations are, when taking a second wife. Of  course, this is bigamy, and, therefore, forbidden by civil and Jewish Law; however, the Talmud takes these instructions very seriously - as it teaches us what the woman's rights are!

The Scripture (Exodus 21:10) reads as follows: "if he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights". The Oral Law adds the following detailed list, based on the husband's occupation: "Men of leisure, who do not work, (or have an easy 9-5 office job), must engage in marital relations every day; labourers must do so twice a week; donkey drivers - once a week; camel drivers - once every thirty days; and sailors once every six months" (Babylonian Talmud Tractate Ketuboth 61b).

My conclusion, and you should really advise with your local Rabbi, since this was written nearly 1,800 years ago, is that the wife has a right to be with her husband as often as his work schedule allows!

Imagine my surprise, when I received this Souvenir Sheet from Palau, from a friend in Brooklyn, that clearly shows that Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov was away from his wife, friends, family, Planet Earth etc. for 438 days.... All jokes aside, he does hold the World Record in Longest stay in Space (in a single mission).

It is going in my Stamp Bible, right next to the above mentioned verses in Exodus. And if you ever meet an astronaut (or cosmonaut, as they were known in Russian), please ask them if they got permission from their wife to go to space! as this IS the Torah Law!