Rabbenu Tam’s Ordinance for the Return of the Dowry: Between Talmudic Exegesis and an Ordinance that Contradicts the Talmud

In the present article, I will address one of Rabbenu Tam’s ordinances: The return of the dowry to the father of a woman who died right after her wedding (nissu’in). According to talmudic law, when a wedded woman (“nesu’ah”) dies, her husband inherits her. This applies even where the woman dies on her wedding day or a few days after her wedding. In such a case,the halakhic outcome is that the newly wed and newly-widowed husband inherits whatever her father gave her to bring into her new household. The bereft father, on the other hand, has not only lost his daughter but also the assets that he gave his daughter in anticipation of her wedding.