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Why does the Torah (תורה) add that the widow won't receive her kesuvah and the orphans won't inherit when their husband/father is killed for oppressing widows and orphans? The shiur develops the idea that a person who oppresses the vulnerable lacks sensitivity precisely because his own family never showed him how deeply they depend on him. Therefore, the family shares responsibility and loses their normal inheritance rights.
The shiur analyzes the Torah (תורה)'s seemingly redundant statement in Parshas Mishpatim regarding the punishment for oppressing widows and orphans. The Torah states that if someone oppresses a widow or orphan and they cry out to Hashem (ה׳), He will kill the oppressor, and "your wives will be widows and your children will be orphans." This appears redundant—obviously if someone dies, his wife becomes a widow and his children become orphans. Rashi (רש"י), citing Chazal, explains that the redundancy conveys an additional punishment: the oppressor's body will not be found, preventing his wife from collecting her kesuvah (marriage settlement) and his children from receiving their inheritance. Normally, when a person dies, the wife receives her kesuvah and the children inherit. But here, without proof of death, the wife and children suffer financial consequences beyond the typical outcome.
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Parshas Mishpatim - Shemos 22:21-23
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