Responsa for Ketubot 97:11
איבעית אימא ר' מאיר והכי קאמר האב אינו חייב במזונות בתו והוא הדין לבנו הא מצוה בבתו איכא קל וחומר לבנים והאי דקתני בתו הא קמ"ל
If you wish I might say [that the author is] R. Meir, and this is what he means: A father is not obligated to sustain his daughter, and the same law applies to his son. But there is a moral duty in the case of his daughter and all the more so in the case of his sons; and the reason why his daughter was mentioned was to teach us this:
Teshuvot Maharam
Q. A mother demanded support from her three sons. One son has no money except his salary as teacher. The second son possesses fourteen marks. The third son is rich but does not live in the same town. Who must support the mother?
A. It is the accepted law that children are obligated to support their widowed mother only out of the possessions they inherited from their father, but not out of their own possessions. However, children of means may be forced to support their mother as an act of charity [since a Jew may be forced to give charity to the poor]. Therefore, any son who would himself be thrown upon charity were he forced to support his mother, can not be forced to do so. But those sons who have means should support their mother in proportion to their wealth. These sons, however, cannot be forced to support their mother out of their own money, but can do so out of the money they are usually obliged to give to charity, although they would thus incur the curse of the Rabbis who say: "Cursed be he who feeds his father out of the poor man's tithe" Kid. 32a.
SOURCES: Cr. 198; Pr. 541; Tesh. Maim. to Shoftim, 15; Mordecai Hagadol, p. 197d.
A. It is the accepted law that children are obligated to support their widowed mother only out of the possessions they inherited from their father, but not out of their own possessions. However, children of means may be forced to support their mother as an act of charity [since a Jew may be forced to give charity to the poor]. Therefore, any son who would himself be thrown upon charity were he forced to support his mother, can not be forced to do so. But those sons who have means should support their mother in proportion to their wealth. These sons, however, cannot be forced to support their mother out of their own money, but can do so out of the money they are usually obliged to give to charity, although they would thus incur the curse of the Rabbis who say: "Cursed be he who feeds his father out of the poor man's tithe" Kid. 32a.
SOURCES: Cr. 198; Pr. 541; Tesh. Maim. to Shoftim, 15; Mordecai Hagadol, p. 197d.
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