Commentary for Bava Batra 280:9

מיתיבי טומטום יורש כבן וניזון כבת בשלמא לרבא יורש כבן בנכסים מועטין וניזון כבת בנכסים מרובין

[If an animal]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Of which the male or female firstling was consecrated as a sacrifice before it was born. ');">²¹</span> gave birth to a <i>tumtum</i> or an androginos,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [G], a hermaphrodite. having characteristics of both male and female. ');">²²</span> Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel said that the sanctity does not extend to [either of] them.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Thus it has been proved that in the opinion of Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel a tumtum is regarded as a distinct species which is neither male nor female. This view is voiced by the author of the latter clause of our Mishnah, according to whom a tumtum receives neither a share like a son nor maintenance like a daughter. ');">²³</span> An objection was raised: A <i>tumtum</i> inherits like a son and receives maintenance like a daughter. According to Raba<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who regards a tumtum not as a distinct species but as one of uncertain sex and that, accordingly, he is either male or female. ');">²⁴</span> this statement may well be explained [as follows]: He inherits like a son in [the case of] a small estate,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., nothing: since the daughters may refuse him maintenance on the ground that he has no proof that he is a female. ');">²⁵</span> and receives maintenance like a daughter [in the case of] a large estate;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' He cannot claim the greater privilege of receiving a share like a son, because he has no proof that he is a male. He is entitled, however, to the lesser privilege of maintenance, since if he is not a male he is inevitably a female. Cf. p. 598. n. 8. ');">²⁶</span>

Explore commentary for Bava Batra 280:9. In-depth commentary and analysis from classical Jewish sources.