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KESUVOS 68

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SUMMARY

We must be grateful to the frauds because without them we would sin every day, as we would have no excuse for not giving Tzedakah.
 
Avoiding giving Tzedakah is tantamount to worshipping Avodah Zarah.
 
One who pretends to be a cripple or a blind person for the purpose of extorting Tzedakah will not die before he actually suffers from the handicap.
 
One who accepts Tzedakah without needing it will eventually become needy.
 
We do not obligate a person to sell his house or his housewares before giving him Tzedakah. (1)
 
If a rich person took Tzedakah, he must sell his house and utensils in order to pay back the Tzedakah that he took unlawfully.
 
An orphan who was married off by her mother or brothers and was not given sufficient dowry has the right to claim the appropriate dowry at a later date.
 
Rebbi Yehudah: If the father married off one daughter in his lifetime, the daughter that marries after his death has the right to the same dowry as the first daughter.
 
Shmuel says that an orphan is provided with a dowry by the brothers in accordance with the generosity of the deceased father. (3)
 
The brothers must feed and support their sister in accordance with the value of the inheritance.
 
Rebbi: An orphan is provided with a dowry of 10% of the inheritance. (4)
 
When two orphan daughters marry at the same time, we first subtract 10% of the inheritance for one dowry and subtract another 10% from what remains, and the two daughters divide the money that was subtracted for their dowry. (5)
 
Once an orphan daughter become a Bogeres or gets married, she is no longer provided with food from the estate.
 
Rebbi: Even though the daughters have become Bogeros or have become married, they do not lose their right to a dowry. Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar: They do lose their right to a dowry. (6)
 
An orphan daughter may collect her dowry from the buyers of the inheritance of her brothers.
 
An orphan daughter may not collect the food that the brother must provide her from the buyers of the inheritance.
 
Rebbi: The Mezonos of the widow and her daughters are collected from Karka or from the movable goods of the inheritance.
 
If a father says that his daughter shall not be provided with food from the inheritance, we pay no heed to his directive.
 
If a father says that his daughter shall not be provided with a dowry from the inheritance, he is heeded.

A BIT MORE

1. However, if he owns a frivolous item such as a silver plow, he must sell it before collecting from Tzedakah.
 
2. The Chachamim maintain that the second daughter takes according to a percentage of the property, and not the amount that the first daughter takes.
 
3. Shmuel rules like Rebbi Yehudah, who says that if the father married off one daughter in his lifetime, the daughter that marries after his death takes the same dowry as the first daughter. Even though, in this case, the father had not married off a daughter in his lifetime, Shmuel still maintains that we assess the generosity of the father and give the daughter the amount that we assess he would have given for the dowry of his daughter had he been alive.
 
4. Each daughter receives 10 % of what is left of the inheritance at the time of their marriage.
 
5. The two daughters divide the money that was subtracted for their dowry.
 
6. However, even according to Rebbi, if the daughter did not protest at the time that she became a Bogeres or was married, she loses her right to a dowry from the inheritance. If she continues to receive Mezonos after she is married, it is not necessary for her to protest unless she both became a Bogeres and also was married.

BRIEF INSIGHT

FRADULENTLY COLLECTING TZEDAKAH
 
We must be grateful to the frauds because without them we would sin every day, as we would have no excuse for not giving Tzedakah. The Pnei Yehoshua explains that the presence of frauds is no excuse for not giving Tzedakah. Even if we are not certain that a person is honest, we are obligated to give him the benefit of doubt and provide him with Tzedakah. However, the obligation to fulfill all of a person's needs (such as a horse to ride on and a servant to run in front of him) does not apply if we have doubts about the poor man's honest need for those services. Therefore, the presence of frauds gives us a legitimate excuse not to provide this service if we have a question about the person's honesty.

QUICK HALACHAH

TAKING TZEDAKAH
 
A person should always distance himself from taking Tzedakah and should live in agony rather than being provided for by others. Even if he is a Chacham who has become impoverished, he should toil for a living even if he must work at a demeaning job rather than being provided for by others. A person who does not need Tzedakah and acts fraudulently and takes Tzedakah will not die without first becoming a needy person. (Shulchan Aruch YD 255:1)

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