One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
אִישׁוּת
Marriage 20
Sefer Nashim · The dowry a father owes his daughter by decree rather than by contract, how a court estimates the wishes of a man who never stated them, and why the same silence forfeits one daughter's portion and preserves another's
10
Percent of the estate given as a dowry when the court cannot determine what the father would have wanted
3
Daughters marrying in turn, each taking a tenth of what the previous dowry left behind
50
Or 100 zuz given to an orphan married as a minor, who may still collect her full dowry once she comes of age
0
Dowries granted from the estate when the father instructs at his death that none be given, since it is not a provision of the ketubah
Part 1The father's portion, and how it is estimated
- A decree called parnasah. The Sages decreed that a man give his daughter a portion of his holdings, at least the wardrobe given to the wife of a poor man, and more according to his standards if he is wealthy. (20:1)
- Provide it now, not later. Where the father states that his daughter has nothing, she has no claim on him, and the groom should not promise to clothe her once she enters his home but should provide the wardrobe while she is still in her father's house. (20:2)
- Reading a silent father. After his death the court estimates his wishes from his friends and acquaintances, his business affairs, his standard of living and any daughter he married off, and gives a tenth of the estate only if his wishes cannot be determined. (20:3)
- Tenths in sequence, then pooled. The first daughter to marry takes a tenth, the second a tenth of the remainder, and so on, but daughters marrying at the same time have their allotments set aside in that pattern and then divided equally. (20:4)
RememberWhen the father is silent, the court reads his life. When he speaks, the court obeys him.
Part 2A creditor of her brothers, and where the claim stops
- Land only, because it is no ketubah condition. The tenth is collected only from landed property even under the enactment of the later Sages, though it may come from rent, and brothers may pay money instead. (20:5)
- Intermediate land, no oath, until the brothers die. She is a creditor of her brothers and collects from intermediate property without an oath, but from their sons she takes inferior property and swears, and she may collect from purchasers of the estate. (20:6, 20:7)
- No dowry among sisters alone. A man with daughters and no sons leaves an estate divided equally, and where a son dies after the older sister took her tenth, the younger sister takes no tenth, the estate is split equally, and the older keeps what she received. (20:8, 20:9)
- The father's refusal, and the widow's priority. A deathbed order that no dowry be given is heeded, and where there is a widow, a daughter who marries cannot collect her tenth, and her husband does not inherit it if she dies. (20:10, 20:11)
RememberThe dowry guards a daughter against her brothers. Without brothers it disappears, and before a widow it waits.
Part 3Silence, protest, and the daughter who is still being fed
- A minor cannot object. An orphan married off as a minor with a dowry of 50 or 100 zuz may collect her full due after she comes of age, even if she was not supported and did not object at the wedding. (20:12)
- An adult who marries in silence. A daughter who marries after majority without demanding her dowry forfeits it, unless she protested at the time of the marriage. (20:13)
- Silence while supported is not a waiver. A bogeret in her father's house forfeits by silence once her brothers stop supporting her, but not while they continue, since she can claim she did not ask because they were supporting her and she has not yet married. (20:13)
- Money designated for land. Where a father directed that a sum be used to buy land for her and she asks the third party to hand it to her husband, she is heeded only if she is an adult and married, while for a betrothed woman or a minor the father's instructions are carried out. (20:14)
RememberThe same silence is a surrender at an adult's wedding and a courtesy at a table where she is still being fed.