Rabbi Zweig
“My wrath shall blaze and I shall kill you by the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children orphans”(22:23)
The Torah prohibits Bnei Yisroel from exploiting the vulnerability of a widow or orphan. Hashem warns that if He will hear the cries of widows or orphans, He will kill their oppressors by the sword and render their wives and children, widows and orphans. The necessity for the Torah to state that the wives and children of the oppressors will become widows and orphans implies that this is an integral part of the punishment; not only will the sinner be killed, but his wife and children will suffer because of his actions. Axiomatic to all of Hashem’s punishments is the principle of “midah keneged midah” – “quid pro quo”; Hashem punishes with a severity commensurate to the offense. Why is death by the hands of heaven not a sufficient response for the mistreatment of widows and orphans? The Torah’s stress on the children and wives becoming widows and orphans implies that there are two responses, death and bereavement of kin, for one action, the mistreatment of widows and orphans.
Rabbeinu Yona explains that the Hebrew word for widow, “almanah” is rooted in the word “ilem” – “mute”, for with the death of her husband the widow is silenced, i.e. she has no one to defend her. Similarly, the word “yatom” – “orphan” correlates to a word found in Bereishis in the verse “vayitom hakesef”- “and the money was depleted”. When a child loses a father his confidence is depleted, for he senses that he has no one to champion his cause. Every time widows or orphans are oppressed, they are forced to relive the loss of their husband or parent. They become acutely aware that if their relative, who in the past would defend them, were alive, they would not be forced to endure the current mistreatment. The Torah therefore warns the oppressors that as a result of their actions they will cause their own wives and children to experience the pain and suffering which they have inflicted upon others.
1.Rabbeinu Yona cited by the Shaarei Aharon 2.47:15
