One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
אִישׁוּת
Marriage 19
Sefer Nashim · The sons' right to their mother's ketubah and the single dinar that limits it, the daughters' support from their father's estate, and the ruling that feeds the daughters and sends the Torah's heirs to beg
1
Dinar the estate must exceed all the ketubot by, or everything is divided equally as the Torah requires
1400
Zuz to the son of the 1000 zuz ketubah, against 600 to the son of the 200 zuz ketubah, from an estate of 2000
0
Oaths required of daughters drawing support, unlike the widow, who is also allotted by her standing rather than her needs
4
Kinds of daughters excluded from support under the provision: of a yevamah, a sh'niyah, an arusah, and a woman who was raped
Part 1The sons and their mother's ketubah
- A condition of the ketubah. A woman's male offspring inherit the money due their mother by virtue of her ketubah and her nichsei tzon barzel, and only afterwards divide the remainder equally with their brothers. (19:1, 19:2)
- The dinar that protects the Torah. The provision applies only when the estate is worth at least a dinar more than the ketubot, for otherwise a Rabbinic provision would supersede entirely the equal division required by Scriptural law. (19:3, 19:4)
- Valued on the day of death. Heirs who offer to increase the estate to reach the extra dinar are refused, and any rise or fall between the death and the division is ignored. (19:5)
- A debt does not shrink it. Where the estate exceeds the two ketubot by a dinar, a promissory note against it for the excess is not considered to have reduced its value. (19:6)
- The widow's oath changes the road. The sons of a wife who outlived her husband and took the widow's oath inherit her ketubah first by the Torah's law of inheritance, even without the extra dinar, and if she died before swearing, only the sons of the wife who died in his lifetime claim a ketubah. (19:7, 19:8, 19:9)
- Only what the estate holds, only with the document. Sons collecting under the provision may not take property sold to others, and they collect only if they hold the ketubah document, unless the locale does not write one. (19:9, 19:12)
RememberThe Sages may reshape the Torah's inheritance, but they must leave one dinar for it to divide.
Part 2The daughters and their support
- Until betrothal or bagrut. After their father's death his daughters are supported from the estate until they are consecrated or reach bagrut, and their earnings and finds belong to them, not to their brothers. (19:10)
- Necessities, not standing. Support, garments and living quarters are allotted and land may be sold for them without a public announcement, but daughters receive only necessities, while the widow is allotted by social standing, and daughters take no oath. (19:11)
- A deathbed order is void. A dying man's instruction that his daughters, his widow, or his sons' ketubah claim be ignored is of no consequence, since an oral will and the provisions take effect together at death. (19:13)
- No wandering and begging. One who consecrates a girl supported by her brothers must support her from consecration onward, for a man would not desire that the woman he consecrated be put to shame. (19:15)
RememberThe daughter asks for less than the widow and swears to nothing, and the chapter protects her more fiercely than anyone.
Part 3Ample, meager, and who comes first
- The sons should beg. An ample estate goes to the sons, who support their sisters, a lesser one first sets aside the daughters' support, and one that suffices only for the daughters feeds the daughters while the sons beg. (19:17)
- Movables follow the geonim. Where the estate is movable property, the daughters' right comes only from the ordinance of the geonim, which made them like the sons but not superior, so a meager estate supports both equally. (19:18)
- Fixed at death, and debts do not change it. An ample estate that later became meager already belongs to the heirs, a sale of a meager estate by the sons is binding, and a debt or a promise to support the widow's daughter does not make an ample estate meager. (19:19, 19:20)
- The Rambam's own inference. A widow is supported before a daughter, and a daughter's support precedes the sons' Rabbinic claim to their mother's ketubah, since it already supersedes their Scriptural inheritance. (19:21)
RememberWhen there is not enough, the heirs by Torah law wait at the door and the one with only a condition in a contract is fed.