LEV571 We turn now specifically to wishing harm to one's spouse. Our masters, may their memories be a blessing, say, "It is forbidden for one to marry a woman before he sees her lest when he sees her he find something detestable in her and she be disgraced by him--for the Merciful One said, 'You should love your neighbor as yourself.'" Kiddushin 83a. This verse, a central rule in the Torah, applies also to one's husband or wife. [Its point is that you should not get yourself in a position in which you might wish harm to your spouse.] We learn the same thing from the Talmud: "One should not marry a woman with the intention of divorcing her, for it says (in Proverbs 3:29), 'Do not plot evil against your fellow who lives trustingly with you' [i.e., your spouse] ...." Yebamot 37b. It is also stated in Avot d'Rabbi Nathan (Solomon Schechter, ed. (Vienna, 1887), chap. 26), "Rabbi Akiba says, 'Anyone who marries a woman who is not suitable for him transgresses five negative commands: (1) 'Do not take vengeance (Leviticus 19:18)', (2) 'Do not bear a grudge (ibid.)', (3) 'Do not hate your neighbor in your heart (this verse)', (4) 'Love your neighbor as yourself (ibid.)', (5) 'That your brother may live with you (Leviticus 25:36).' Further, in so far as he hates her and wishes she would die, he refrains from the command 'Be fruitful and multiply.'" [All of the above speak about wishing harm to one spouse. But the law also speaks specifically about wishing for the spouse's death.] Our masters report, for example, "He used to say, 'As for one who wishes his wife to die that he may marry her sister, or anyone who wishes his brother to die that he may marry his wife, his end will be that they [i.e., the intended victims] will bury him during their lifetimes.' As regards such a person, Scripture says (Ecclesiastes 10:8), 'The one who digs the pit will fall into it; and a serpent will bite the one who breaks through the wall.'" This is to say that if one hopes his wife will die so he might marry another woman, heaven will arrange for the opposite to occur.