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לעולם יהא אדם זהיר בכבוד אשתו שאין ברכה מצויה בביתו של אדם אלא בשביל אשתו וכך אמרו חכמים לבני דורם כבדו את נשותיכם כדי שתתעשרו
(Shulchan Aruch Harav, Laws of paining and theft of knowledge, 32)

My guess of a translation

always a man should be diligent in the respect of his wife, since the blessing does not exist in the house of man except (that is, it only exists) for/because-of his wife. And so said the sages to the children (people living) in their generation respect your wives to become rich

How does this work?
How can one understand: "since the blessing does not exist in the house of man except (that is, it only exists) for/because-of his wife שאין ברכה מצויה בביתו של אדם אלא בשביל אשתו"?

With my westernised mind I do not understand the above logic; please explain it to me.

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  • 3
    Happy wife is a happy life... – Yehoshua May 13 '16 at 12:56
  • @Yehoshua I think in the Talmud there is a similar statement regarding a beautiful wife – hazoriz May 13 '16 at 12:57
  • Related judaism.stackexchange.com/q/71246/5120 – hazoriz May 13 '16 at 14:10
  • @mevaqesh I do like it but it seems to me it does not answer my question, my question is in the bigging it says we need to respect them becouse the blessing comes becouse of THEM, in the end it says the blessing comes becouse of our RESPECT of them are these not 2 different ideas? (Am I understanding something incorrectly?) – hazoriz Aug 22 '16 at 0:23
  • @hazoriz What I tried explaining in my answer (maybe I didn't express it very well), is that the Gemara, and by extension, the Shulchan Arukh, aren't saying that one ought to respect his wife because he is impressed with her blessing bringing ability, but rather that he ought to respect her in order to receive blessing. So there is no contradiction. To repeat, the SHA does not say we need to respect them becouse the blessing comes becouse of THEM as you say, rather he says we should do so שאין ברכה מצויה בביתו של אדם אלא that is For the resultant blessing – mevaqesh Aug 22 '16 at 0:27
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Based on clarification of OP's question found in comments:

The source for this quote is the Gemara Bava Metsia 59a:

לעולם יהא אדם זהיר בכבוד אשתו, שאין ברכה מצויה בתוך ביתו של אדם אלא בשביל אשתו, שנאמר ולאברם הטיב בעבורה. והיינו דאמר להו רבא לבני מחוזא: אוקירו לנשייכו כי היכי דתתעתרו

A person should always be careful regarding the honor of his wife, for blessing is only found in a person's house on account of his wife, for it says "And to Abraham he did good on her account". And this is equivalent to what Rava told the people of Mechoza "Honor your wives so that you will become rich".

The Gemara is not saying that one ought to respect his wife because he is impressed with her blessing bringing ability, but rather that he ought to respect her in order to receive blessing.

This is a classic example of less than ideal motives for proper behavior being used as an incentive.

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