And God came to Avimelech in a dream of the night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
English: “A man’s wife.” A wife ascends with her husband but does not descend with him. What is the scriptural source? Rav Huna said: “And she is a man’s wife (be’ulat ba’al)”—[she shares] in her husband’s ascent, but not in his descent.
On the daf / in context: The phrase is taken as a source for the rule that a wife’s standard of living rises with her husband’s but is not forced downward if his circumstances decline.
Type of Learning
Derash on the verse (Bavli sugya) — not a formal named middah of the 13. A descriptive phrase yields a marital-property principle.
What Is Learned
A wife rises with her husband in standard of living but is not compelled to descend with him; the wording “be’ulat ba’al” supports the distinction.