What can an orphan bride expect for her dowry? TB Ketubot68-69

I imagine that most young couples do not enter married life with either a lot of money and/or large household items. When Judy and I were first married and moved to Springfield Massachusetts, I was moving out of my rabbinical school dorm room and Judy was moving out of her parents’ apartment. We started our married life together with almost nothing. The movers only had to move a ton of books I had bought as an undergraduate and rabbinical school and a couple of Judy’s childhood chests and drawers. Just prior to moving into the Georgetown Apartments, we ordered two twin beds from the Okun furniture store so we would have something to sleep on before we bought our bedroom set.

Young couples in Talmudic also needed help kickstarting their new home. That’s the purpose of the dowry. The Mishnah on daf TB 67b provides the minimum amount that the father should provide; however, states that he is not obligated to provide anything. “With regard to one who marries off his daughter with the terms of the dowry unspecified, he must not give her less than fifty dinars. If the bride’s father pledged to bring her into the marriage bare, by saying that he refuses to give her anything, the husband should not say: When I bring her into my house, I will clothe her with my clothing, but not beforehand. Rather, he must clothe her while she is yet in her father’s house, and she enters the marriage with the clothing in hand.” (Sefaria.org translation) Obviously, if the bride comes from a wealthy family, the father needs to provide a more substantial dowry befitting his status.

Dappim TB Ketubot 68-69 discusses the minimum amount that an orphan daughter should receive. “Shmuel said: With respect to her support in the form of the dowry, the court evaluates what she should be given based on the circumstances of the father and gives her the amount that he would have given” When we know who was the father and what was his personality i.e. whether was he generous or miserly, we can evaluate an appropriate dowry for this orphan bride. However, if nobody really knows the father, then the appropriate dowry is 10% of his estate. “Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says: With regard to an orphan daughter who is sustained from the inheritance held by her brothers, she takes one-tenth of the estate for her dowry.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The husband agrees to provide support in the ketubah for his future daughters whether it is a written stipulation or never verbally stated. His male heirs have to honor this stipulation of support upon his death. Unfortunately the dowry is not included in this stipulation of support. “Support is not treated like a stipulation in the marriage contract? This statement has implications with regard to that which is taught in a baraita: In the case of one who says in his will that his daughters should not be sustained from his estate, one does not listen to him, as it is not his prerogative to abrogate this obligation. But if he says that his daughters should not be supported from his estate, one does listen to him, as the legal status of the dowry is not like that of a stipulation in the marriage contract. The responsibility to provide support is an ordinance that falls upon the father or his inheritors, and they may choose to reject the responsibility.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The Gemara answers the question how does one look upon the orphan daughter when she comes to collect her dowry. “With regard to the fundamental right of daughters to receive the support of the dowry from the estate…Rav Ashi said: A daughter is legally considered a creditor with regard to the inheritance, and the inheritors may insist that they will provide her support by any means, without giving her a share of the actual inheritance. The Gemara notes: And even Ameimar retracted his opinion (that she is an inheritor-gg), as Rav Minyumi, son of Rav Niḥumi, said: I was standing in front of Ameimar, and this woman came before him, as she was asking for one-tenth of her father’s estate. And I saw that his opinion was that if the inheritor wants to remove her by giving her money, he may remove her, as I heard from the woman’s brothers that they were saying to her: If we had sufficient money, we would pay your claims and remove you with our own money. And Ameimar was silent and did not say anything to them. Since Ameimar did not object to their suggestion in principle, evidently he agreed that her status was that of a creditor, who may be repaid in cash.” (Sefaria.org translation)

All stipulations in the ketubah must be collected only from real estate. The dowry is the exception for it to may only be collected from real estate as Rava teaches. “Rava said: The halakha is that one may collect from the inheritors from real estate and not from movable property, whether for sustenance, whether for the marriage contract, or whether for support, referring to the dowry.” (Sefaria.org translation) As I previously wrote, since less and less Jews owned farmland, the Geonim updated the halakha by saying that women may collect from the inheritors’ movable property as well.