For the source text click/tap here: Gittin 35
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The Mishna states that a widow who comes to collect the money guaranteed to her by her late husband in the ketuba, can only do so if she takes a shevu’a – an oath that she had not received any payment up until that point.
As the Gemara points out, this is the normal rule for anyone who wants to collect money from the orphans. The Mishna teaches that at some point the courts refused to allow widows to takes oaths, and replaced them with a neder that the widow would accept upon herself not to partake of something that was important to her if she had already been paid the ketuba.
We continue our exploration of Tikkun Olam and how different groups have interpreted and appropriated the term for different meanings way beyond its biblical or mystical intent.