Bava Batra 108a — the Talmud in English

And

we were discussing this:

let him make

only

a trench, and not make a son of a trench?

And the Gemara answers: If he made only a trench,

since it is wide, [the animal] stands within it and jumps [

since the trench is six handbreadths wide, the animal enters it, retreats slightly, and jumps from it into the field].

And

if you say, then,

let him make

only

a son of a trench, and not make a trench?

Since it is narrow, [the animal] stands on its edge [

since the son of the trench is small, the animal stands on its edge],

and jumps.

And the beraita concludes:

And how much

will the gap be

between a trench and a son of a trench? —

One handbreadth.

We shall return to you, chapter Beit Kor

The inheritance subjects in our chapter will be divided into seven parts:

A.

To explain the types of relatives: which of them are fit to inherit and bequeath, which only to inherit or bequeath, and which are fit for nothing, or only for part of the laws of inheritance.

B.

To explain the order of the relatives: which of them precedes the other.

C.

To explain the laws of the firstborn: in which assets he takes according to his law.

D.

To explain in which cases the bequeather can remove the laws of inheritance from the heirs.

E.

To explain how one is to relate to the bequeather’s will.

V.

To explain the law concerning one who placed his heirs in control of his assets during his lifetime.

Z.

One who left young sons and daughters: in which case there is an advantage in his assets to these over those.

The laws of

inheritance are learned from the verses (Numbers 27:8): “...

When a man dies and has no son,

then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter;

and if he has no daughter,

then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers;

and if he has no brothers,

then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers;

and if his father has no brothers,

then you shall give his inheritance to his relative who is closest to him from his family, and he shall inherit it ...”

And from here we learned the order of inheritances: a son first. And if he has no sons, his daughters inherit. And without daughters, the deceased’s father inherits. And if he has no father, the deceased’s brothers inherit. And if he has no brothers, his father’s brothers inherit. As will be explained in the Gemara.

And regarding the definition of the law of inheritance, see in

Sefer HaChinukh (

mitzva 400): “... But He informed us that the heir’s right is bound to the assets of his bequeather. And when the bequeather’s power leaves the assets immediately upon his death, the heir’s right falls upon them, like the chain of the creations that the Creator, blessed is He, desired, one after the other, without interruption.

And our Sages, may their memory be for a blessing, call the strong right that the heir has in the assets of his bequeather by the term ‘mishmush,’ as they say in many places: inheritance proceeds by mishmush; that is, the heir’s right in the bequeather is as though the bodies were attached to one another, so that everything that leaves one falls upon the other ...” This is his wording.

Our Mishna will enumerate four types of relatives, learned from these verses, whose laws differ with regard to inheritance.

Our Mishna enumerates four types of relatives, whose laws differ with regard to inheritance:

Mishna:

There are

relatives who

inherit

[inherit] their relatives upon their death,

and

also

bequeath

[bequeath] their assets to them.

And there are

relatives who

inherit

their relatives,

and

if they die,

do not bequeath

to those relatives.

And there are relatives who

bequeath

their assets to their relatives upon their death,

but do not inherit

those relatives when they die.

And there are those who

do not inherit

their relatives

and do not bequeath

to them.

The Mishna explains:

And these inherit and bequeath: The father

inherits

the sons,

if they die and leave no offspring after them.

And

likewise

the sons

inherit

the father

upon his death.

And the brothers from the father ,

inherit and bequeath

to one another: if one of them dies and leaves no son, daughter, or father, his brothers from his father inherit him.

These inherit and do not bequeath:

The man

inherits

his mother ,

but he does not bequeath his assets to her upon his death, and his father’s family inherits them.

And

likewise

the man

inherits

his wife

upon her death, but he does not bequeath his assets to her upon his death, rather to his sons and his father’s family.

And

likewise

the sons of sisters inherit

their mother’s sister, if she dies without a son, daughter, father, or brother.

And do not bequeath

their assets to her.

These bequeath and do not inherit:

The woman

bequeaths

her

assets to

her sons,

but she does not inherit them.

And

likewise

the woman

bequeaths

her

assets to

her husband,

but she does not inherit him.

And

likewise

the mother’s brothers bequeath and do not inherit.

As above.

And the brothers from the mother

but not from the father,

do not inherit and do not bequeath

one another. Rather, their father’s family inherits them.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: “And these inherit and bequeath: the father the sons and the sons the father.”

And the Gemara asks:

What is different that it teaches ‘the father the sons’ first? Let it teach ‘the sons the father’ first?

And there were two reasons why it should have taught it this way:

One: We do not begin with calamity.

That is, when the father inherits his sons, it is found that his sons died during his lifetime. And it is a curse for him.

The tanna of the Mishna should have opened with: “The son inherits the father,” which is a blessing—that the father dies and is buried by his sons.