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Why does the Torah (תורה) punish the perpetrator's wife and children when a man oppresses widows and orphans? The shiur develops a profound yesod: oppressing a widow reawakens her trauma of loss, effectively "killing" her husband again in her experience. The perpetrator's family shares culpability because they failed to teach him the value of being a spouse and parent through proper respect and relationship.
Rabbi Zweig analyzes the Torah (תורה)'s severe punishment for oppressing widows and orphans in Parshas Mishpatim (Shemos 22:21-23). The passage states that if one oppresses a widow or orphan and they cry out, God will become furious, kill the oppressor by the sword, and make his wives widows and his children orphans. Several fundamental questions emerge: Why does the punishment extend to the perpetrator's own family? Why specifically death by the sword? Does this prohibition apply only to widows and orphans, or to all vulnerable people? The shiur begins by exploring the machlokes between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael in the Mechilta. Rabbi Akiva holds that the punishment applies only to oppressing widows and orphans specifically, while Rabbi Yishmael (whose view Rashi (רש"י) follows) maintains it extends to oppressing any weaker person. Rabbi Zweig explains that both opinions are actually correct, but they're addressing different aspects of the passage.
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Shemos 22:21-23 (Parshas Mishpatim)
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