Bava Batra 134a — the Talmud in English

And

if not,

it is a complete gift, and

you cannot take out what I returned

to his sons, since I am able to give it to whomever I wish.

Shammai said,

Shammai

, “Ben Uziel has struck me; Ben Uziel has struck me.”

That is, he defeated me with a crushing answer.

At the outset, what did

Shammai

think? Because of the incident of Beit Horon.

As we learned: There was an incident in Beit Horon, involving one whose father was mudar hanaa from him, and

the son

was marrying off his son,

and wished to invite his father.

He said to his friend, “Here, the courtyard and the meal are given to you

as a gift, and they are before you only so that Father may come and eat with us at the meal.”

He said to him, “If they are mine, behold, they are consecrated to Heaven.”

He said to him, “I did not give you what is mine

so that

you should consecrate them to Heaven.”

He said to him, “You did not give me what is yours except so that you and your father should eat and drink and appease one another, and the sin should hang upon his head.” [

that is, upon my head].

That is, you did not intend it as a complete gift, but only in order to evade the prohibition of the vow imposed upon you. It follows that I am assisting you to transgress your vow.

The Sages said: Any gift that is not

a complete gift to such an extent

that if the recipient consecrates it

it will be

consecrated is not a gift.

Incidentally, the Gemara brought a beraita dealing with the greatness of Jonathan ben Uzziel:

The Sages taught

in a beraita:

Hillel the Elder had eighty students; thirty of them were worthy that the Divine Presence should rest upon them as upon Moses our Teacher,

thirty of them were worthy that the sun should stand for them as for Joshua son of Nun,

but the sin of the generation caused the Divine Presence not to rest upon them in this manner, and the sun not to stand for them.

Twenty were intermediate.

The greatest of all of them was Jonathan ben Uzziel.

The least of all of them was Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai.

They said about Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai that he left no Scripture, Mishna, Gemara [

the reasoning of the mishnayot],

halakhot [

halakha given to Moses at Sinai],

and aggadot, minutiae of Torah [

extensions and limitations],

and minutiae of the Scribes [

decrees of the Sages],

and kal va-chomers, and gezerot shavot, and tekufot

new moon

, and gematriot, and parables of launderers, and parables of foxes,

which have practical significance for understanding words of Torah,

the speech of demons

to adjure them for an amulet or for healing

, and the speech of palm trees [

as Solomon spoke to the trees],

and the speech of the ministering angels

to adjure them

, and a great matter and a small matter.

The Gemara explains:

A great matter is the Account of the Chariot.

And a small matter is the disputes of Abaye and Rava.

To fulfill that which is stated: “To bequeath to those who love Me yesh [

three hundred and ten worlds, corresponding to the numerical value of yesh],

and

[

why all this? Because]

I will fill their treasuries.” That is, their treasuries are filled with every good thing of words of Torah and wisdom.

And since the least of all of them [

Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai]

was thus, the greatest of all of them [

Jonathan ben Uzziel]

all the more so.

They said about Jonathan ben Uzziel: When he would sit and engage in Torah, every bird that flew over him would be burned.

Mishna:

One who says, “This is my son,”

even though it had not been established for us that he was his son,

is believed.

The Gemara will explain with regard to what matter he is believed.

But if he said

“This is my brother,” he is not believed

to obligate his brother to share with him in the inheritance of their father,

but

in any event, to obligate himself he is believed, and therefore

he takes with him from his portion.

That is, he takes from the portion of the brother concerning whom he testified.

For example, Reuben and Simeon came to divide the property of their father, and Simeon testified concerning Levi that he was his brother. Reuben did not recognize him.

Reuben takes half of the property, and from the other half Simeon takes one-third. Levi takes half of his share, that is, one-sixth. And the additional sixth remains in Reuben’s possession until he brings proof that he is their brother.

And if

Levi dies

without sons and bequeaths his property to his brothers,

the property

that Simeon gave him from his portion

returns to its place,

that is, to Simeon.

But if

property came to him [

that is, to Levi]

from another source, his brothers inherit with him.

For Reuben admits that he is their brother. Consequently, he must give him a share of Levi’s property.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: One who says

“This is my son” is believed.

The Gemara explains:

For what halakhic matter?

With regard to what matter is he believed?

Rav Judah said in the name of Shmuel:

He is believed to make him

his heir, and to exempt his wife from yibbum.

For there is no yibbum where there is a son.