The ethical foundations of Judaism, the mitzvoth between man and his fellow man, «Ben Adam Lechavero,» are undoubtedly one of the pillars of Judaism. These values ​​were embodied in the Torah, reinforced by the prophets and biblical writings, commented on by the sages in the Mishnah, and discussed by the rabbis in the Talmud. An example is the following:

Mishna 1, chapter 9, of the Talmudic tractate Bava Batra says: «If a man dies and leaves sons and daughters, if the inheritance is of great value, then the sons inherit, but the daughters must be supported. And if the inheritance is modest, the daughters must be supported, and the sons may go begging.»

Rabbi Shlomo Ben Abraham HaCohen, known as the Maharshach (1420-1602), a native of Monastir, Macedonia, explains the scope of this mishna a thousand years later. In his book She’eilot U’teshuvot (Questions and Answers), the Maharshach addresses the following case: Reuven and his wife died in a plague. They left behind two orphaned daughters. The leaders of the community where Reuven and his wife had lived sent the orphans to another city where their uncles lived, who kindly welcomed their unfortunate relatives. The uncles sent a message to the community leaders, asking for Reuven and his wife’s assets in order to invest the funds and make some profit to support the girls. They pointed out that the girls were in need and that no one else was willing to help them.

The community leaders responded that they did not agree to sending the assets to the uncles, since Reuven had requested burial in the Holy Land, which was considered a great mitzvah. Therefore, they planned to use the assets to pay for the costs of transporting his remains to Eretz Yisrael. The uncles countered by arguing that the Mishnah in Bava Batra clearly teaches that if a man dies and leaves little property, those assets should be used to support his daughters. In this case, the father and mother had died leaving little property. Therefore, these assets should provide for the daughters’ support. No one had the right to take the assets and use them for another purpose.

Since the two parties could not agree, the dispute was brought before the Maharshah. The Maharshah ruled that, since only minimal assets remained, those assets should go to the daughters for their support. He pointed out that even if the father had explicitly said, «I do not want my property used to support my daughters after I die,» we would still not heed his instructions, since the Sages legislated that a person’s property must be used to provide for his daughters after his death. Even if they wish to use their property to fulfill a mitzvah, it does not take precedence over the laws of the Sages. Therefore, the Maharshah decided that the property should be sent to the uncles. The support of the daughters takes precedence over the mitzvah of being buried in the Land of Israel.

Both at the time the Mishnah was written and a thousand years later, caring for women is one of the ethical principles that remains in force, unlike changing customs. Ethical values ​​in Judaism are immune to the passage of time.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Various sources.