[kalee]

All too often today’s husbandless mother is both husbandless and a mother by her own foolish willful choices so I fail to see any correlation to the Biblical widow who did not seek nor desire widowhood, but found herself one through no fault of her own.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I myself am not Hebrew-litrerate, but as I understand from people who know Hebrew the Hebrew word usually translated "widow" is actually almana, which is semantically associated with "desolate" or "emoty house," and orphan is yatom, which means "without man" or "without a father."

My point her eis that Biblical Hebrew is apparently not as specific in meaning as the English words use to translate. A woman who is almana is a woman in an empty house, lacking male suport (whether she had a husband who died, or for whatever unspecified reason); and a yatom is a child without a father, whether he died or is merely absent is unspecified.

My point is NOT to say that foolish willful choices have to be subsidized; butthe compassion urged for the poor goes bneyond strict contractual justice. It is an applicationof mercy, not a rndering of just deserts.