God Hears the Cry of the Widow and Orphan: A Torah Warning That Cannot Be Ignored

“You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you do afflict them, and they cry out to Me, I will surely hear their cry.” (Shemot 22:21–22)

The Torah’s Demand for Compassion

The Sefer HaChinuch (Commandment 65) writes: “We are forbidden to burden widows and orphans — whether through actions or even through speech, as it says: ‘You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.’ Rather, all of a person’s interactions with them must be conducted gently, kindly, and compassionately.”

He continues: “Among the roots of this commandment is what I explained earlier regarding the convert: these are people of weakened strength, who have no one to argue their case on their behalf with full force, as a husband would for his wife or a father for his children if he were alive. Therefore, our holy Torah warns us to acquire within ourselves the trait of kindness and mercy, to act with integrity in all our deeds, as though there were a powerful advocate standing before us — so that we show them compassion, protect them, and seek their merit in every matter, even more than we would if the father were still alive.”

A Story from the Life of the Chafetz Chaim

In the town of the Chafetz Chaim, there lived a poor widow who rented an apartment from one of the wealthy men of Radin. To support herself and her young orphans, she worked washing people’s clothes in their homes. In those days, there were no washing machines, and laundering was exhausting, backbreaking labor. With the small amount she earned, she bought food for her family and paid her rent.

One winter, heavy snow fell day after day without pause. As a result, the widow could no longer go out to wash clothes, and she was unable to earn money to pay her rent. To her sorrow, the snowstorms continued almost nonstop for two more months. By the end of that harsh period, she had barely enough to feed her children and certainly no money to pay the rent.

One day, the wealthy landlord confronted her and said sternly: “Three months have passed without rent. If you do not pay the entire debt, you will not remain in this apartment for even one more day.”

The widow tried to explain her situation and begged him to have mercy on her and her orphaned children, not to cast them into the freezing street. But the wealthy man replied coldly: “No excuses will help. Whether you earned enough or not is none of my concern. I want the money owed to me.”

In truth, the widow’s entire debt was insignificant for such a wealthy man. Still, he hardened his heart. He refused even to wait until spring, when she might be able to work again and repay him gradually.

Cruelty in the Depth of Winter

As he had warned, the landlord acted. On the appointed day, he sent an agent to collect the debt. When the widow could not pay, she was ordered to leave immediately. She had nowhere else to go and remained in the house with her children to escape the freezing cold.

Seeing this, the wealthy man sent workers to remove the roof tiles. Snow and rain soon poured inside. The widow was forced to leave the house and was left homeless with her small children.

She went to the Chafetz Chaim and tearfully recounted everything that had happened.

The Chafetz Chaim was shaken and cried out: “Did he really do this to you? Does he have no mercy on a widow and orphans, to throw them out of their home in such cold? Woe to that man! For the Torah already warns about one who causes suffering to a widow: ‘My anger shall burn, and I will kill you by the sword, and your wives shall be widows and your children orphans’ (Shemot 22:23). I wonder what the end of such a person will be.”

He immediately turned to one of the generous members of the community and arranged housing for the widow and her orphaned children.

Delayed Justice, Certain Justice

Ten years later, a rabid dog bit the wealthy landlord. He suffered terribly and, after weeks of agony, died in great pain.

The Holy One, blessed be He, is: “A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Devarim 32:4).

God is patient and slow to anger, as our sages say, “He prolongs His wrath and collects what is His.”

That wealthy man was not punished immediately, for God waited to see if he would repent. But there is judgment and there is a Judge, and in the end, he received a dreadful punishment for having caused suffering to a widow and her orphans.

Another Tragic Episode

Another terrifying incident occurred in the time of the Chafetz Chaim. In those days, the authorities demanded a quota of Jewish children to be sent into the army of the wicked Nicholas. These children were taken from their parents for many years, lived lives of hardship in military camps, and were often lost spiritually. Some died in wars, and many forgot their Judaism entirely.

The son of a butcher was seized and was about to be drafted. That butcher who was a wicked man, kidnapped another boy, an orphan without a father, and handed him over to the army in place of his own son. The orphan’s widowed mother was shattered with grief, crying day and night.

When the Chafetz Chaim heard of this, he was overwhelmed with anguish and wondered what punishment awaited such a person who caused unbearable suffering to a widow. Years later, it became known that vicious dogs attacked the butcher and tore him apart.