1,641. Additional Tasks Performed By a Woman Without Household Help

Hilchos Ishus 21:4

The tasks mentioned in the previous halacha should only be performed by a man’s wife. Even if she has several maids, these tasks are too intimate to be performed by anyone other than his wife.

Hilchos Ishus 21:5

There are additional tasks that a wife performs for her husband when they are not wealthy: baking bread, which Ezra ordained that women should do early so that there will be bread available to give the needy; cooking food; washing clothes; nursing children; feeding her husband's mount, though she need not feed his cattle; and grinding flour. By grinding flour, we mean that she goes to the mill, sifts the flour and prods the animal to ensure that the mill will continue unimpeded. If the accepted local practice is for women to grind flour themselves using a hand mill, she should do so.