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Okay, I have to write an essay, about polygamy and I have to write PROs and CONs about it. Now, I've come up with CONS, but not PROs, so...

And not from the religious point of view, please. And I kinda just can't write IT'S A SIN across the paper in red letters (That's what Mikahel suggested)

Pros of Polygamy:

1.) whee *Brain explodes* xp




Okay, give me some time.

Where's Divash when you need her?

Silent, you can always just use Wikipedia... IF YOU DARE!!! ninja

JK, I never use Wikipedia.

It's no coincidence their logo looks like the Death Star.. ninja

I think it's usually the former.

Back to the subject!

You've already heard all about the cons of polygamy, but what about the pros?

1. Sisterhood. Getting to share circumstances with other women who understand your marriage because they're involved in it must be a relief, especially to a new bride, and especially in Jewish society in which modesty might prevent her from asking questions or giving specifics about her relationship to someone who's not a part of it. She isn't all alone in the marriage, but rather, has a built-in society of sisters who keep her from being lonely while she's adjusting to this new life.

2. Sharing duties. As Lumanny mentioned, properly handled polygamy permits wives to rotate duties -- child care, home maintenance, cooking and cleaning, learning Torah or another permitted career path -- so that each one gets a bit of time doing each. Each wife can further her education at times, appear in public with the shared husband at times, stay home at times, get extra time with the kids. Furthermore, each wife can learn from the others in knowledge, wisdom, and so on. If one is good at plumbing and another is good at cooking, they'll eventually cross paths and teach one another what they know.

3. Family care. In many times and places, an aging woman with no husband could look forward to an impoverished old age. If a younger woman's husband agreed to take her on, however, she could depend on him to provide for her just as he did for his younger wife.

4. Lesbians, rejoice. In some situations, a husband might be permitted to focus all his sexual attention on just one wife, but provide for two more who, shall we say, wouldn't need him quite so much in that area. The two of them would have the 'cover' of a heterosexual relationship for themselves. For the sake of the man and his first wife, the other two would provide additional child care, home maintenance, possibly even income if they were industrious -- everything but sex, which wouldn't be a problem because the husband's and the first wife's needs would be more closely aligned to one another, while the other two would pay their way in the household with the non-sexual contributions to family harmony.

5. Heirs. If a first wife can't provide an heir of her body, she can -- if she wishes, according to the Sephardi/Mizrachi ketubah -- ask her husband to take another wife to bear him children. Polygamy, however, permits the first wife to remain within the relationship with her husband, rather than be abandoned simply because of her childlessness. In Judaism, a man is commanded to replace himself and his wife upon the earth -- to have at least one son and one daughter, if possible. If one wife cannot help him fulfill this responsibility, or if her life or health would be endangered by it, she has a way to provide heirs through another woman, while not losing her place as first wife.

6. Right of refusal. This isn't about whether polygamy is bad or good, but it is an important aspect of Jewish polygamy that I think deserves mention. An Ashkenazi man with an axe to grind can tie up his first wife indefinitely if he chooses. He can give her a secular divorce, but refuse to give her a religious divorce. A woman without a document of religious divorce cannot remarry. However, a man can remarry, both in secular law and in religious law. An Ashkenazi woman has little, if any, recourse in such a case. A Sephardi or Mizrachi ketubah, however, says that the first wife (or wives) always have right of refusal over any future wives. This means that if a Sephardi man gets a secular divorce, but refuses to give his wife a religious divorce, she can then deny him the right to religiously marry anyone else. Even if there is no divorce, if a Sephardi man wants a second wife, his first wife has the right to say yes, no, or "sure, but not that one." When there are already two wives, both have right of refusal over a third; three have right of refusal over a fourth; and four is the maximum allowed under Jewish law. In this way, Sephardi/Mizrachi women have control over the number and makeup of their family.

Go Divash!

The bibliography on this one might be tough, though, Silent... ninja