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is to provide an heir so that the deceased brother's name "will not be obliterated from Israel" , such laws effectively provided protection for widows as well. At the time the Torah was written, if a woman did not have a husband because of widowhood, she had no one to provide for her any longer and she would be disgraced, if not likely die of starvation. Children were also a means of continued provision, since they are commanded to care and show respect for the elderly as they move further along in years. A childless widow was without both means

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