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154,5):‘If a man has daily fits of insanity and his wife says,“My father
married me to him out of financial pressure and I thought I would be
able to cope [and live with him] but now I see that I can’t because he is
crazy and I’m afraid he may kill me in a fit of anger,” we do not compel
him to divorce her because we only do so in those situations listed by
the Sages.’ This is not written about a genuine maniac but about an
uncivilized person who is foolish and ill-tempered, for the Shulchan
Aruch’s source are the comments of the Rosh, and this is also pointed
out by the sefer Tiferes Yaakov on Even Ha’ezer: However, a person
who becomes truly crazy but who has lucid spells during which he is
capable of giving a divorce, should certainly be compelled to divorce
his wife when he is sane because there is possible danger to life, ‘for
a woman is given [in marriage] to live with, not to suffer pain,’ as ex-
plained in maseches Kesuvos (61a), and all the more so is she given to
live with and not to be endangered. Therefore, the husband should be
compelled to divorce her.



ɳ Summary and Conclusions

To Question One: If they are among the first third of schizophrenics
who lead almost near normal lives and their behavior is not such that
marriage to them would fall into the category of “A person cannot live
with a snake in one basket” and they are obligated to fulfill mitzvos,
it is a mitzvah to arrange for them to marry and there need be no
concern about the possibility of them committing suicide.

To Question Two: If the family is supportive, it is a mitzvah to
arrange for them to marry them and there need be no concern about
bringing sick children into the world.

Marriage for Schizophrenics 2 221