Does "everything in it" include children and women by scriptural decree, or does "He will give you mercy" set a limiting principle?

This Torah study examines the question: Does "everything in it" include children and women by scriptural decree, or does "He will give you mercy" set a limiting principle? The canonical Hebrew discussion develops the issue through the weekly Torah portion and the sources cited there, preserving the distinctions, tensions and practical implications that belong to the source itself. This localized layer is designed for study and discovery; it does not add a new halakhic, medical, legal, historical or empirical ruling beyond the canonical Hebrew source.