Komentarz do Ketuwot 11:1

אלה ניזונת מנכסי יתומין – whether land or movables, for it is the condition of the Jewish marriage contract: “And you will dwell in my house and be supported from my property.”

Introduction This mishnah and the following mishnah deal with the rights of a widow to continue to live on her husband’s estate.

ואין חייבין בקבורתה – for the husband is liable in her burial in place of her inheritance, and now those who inherit her collect her Ketubah settlement from those who inherit the husband – and they would bury her and of itself, we learn that if she died, and did not take an oath about her Ketubah, for now, her heirs do not collect her Ketubah, and it is placed upon the husband’s heirs to bury her.

A widow is to be maintained out of the estate of [her husband's] orphans [and], her handiwork belongs to them but it is not their obligation to bury her. Her heirs, who inherit her ketubah, are obligated to bury her. In mishnah 4:12 we learned that one of the stipulations written into every woman’s ketubah is that if she becomes a widow she may continue to reside on her husband’s estate and be supported by the inheritance that he left for his children (be they her children or not). Our mishnah adds that since these heirs are supporting her, any handiwork that she produces belongs to them. This is the same arrangement that would have existed while her husband was alive; she received guaranteed support and in return anything she made belonged to him. However, unlike her husband who was obligated to pay for her burial, the heirs who are supporting the widow are not obligated to do so. The difference is that these heirs will not (necessarily) inherit from her, whereas her husband did inherit from her. Her heirs (either her father or her children from another marriage) are responsible for her burial. The underlying reasoning behind this makes some sense; the person who will benefit financially from the estate of the deceased is responsible for the burial.