| abstract | - Widowhood in Judaism is treated as a distinct state of being, for a woman. If the widow's husband had died after the start of the actual marriage (Hebrew: nissuin), rather than merely dying after the betrothal (Hebrew: erusin), she became a legally independent individual; the Talmud states that a woman became independent from her father upon her marriage (nissuin), and she would become independent from her husband when he dies. It was said that a formerly married widow was tantamount to an orphan. Though Judaism takes a somewhat benign attitude towards widows, historically it has also imposed a small number of onious requirements on them. For example, if a widow's husband had appointed her to be the guardian of his children, and some were still infants, her husband's heirs had a Talmudic right to demand an oath from the widow, concerning her management of the children; however, her husband could, before dying, remove this task, by means of written revocation of it.
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