נטפל להן רבן יוחנן בן זכאי אמר להם שוטים מנין זה לכם ולא היה אדם שהחזירו דבר חוץ מזקן אחד שהיה מפטפט כנגדו ואומר ומה בת בנו הבאה מכח בנו תירשנו בתו הבאה מכחו לא כל שכן
R. Huna said in the name of Rab: Anyone, even a prince in Israel, who says that a daughter is to inherit with the daughter of the son, must not he obeyed; for such [a ruling] is only the practice of the Sadducees. As it was taught: On the twenty-fourth of Tebeth we returned to our [own] law;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Sadducees recognised that the Rabbis were right, and the latter, therefore, were again to administer the law in accordance with their views.
');"><sup>4</sup></span> for the Sadducees having maintained [that] a daughter inherited with the daughter of the son, R. Johanan h. Zakkai joined issue with them. He said to them: 'Fools, whence do you derive this?' And there was no one who could reply a word, except one old man who prated at him and said: 'If the daughter of his son, who succeeds<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'comes'.
');"><sup>5</sup></span>
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
The Talmud Berachot 31a relates that when Rabbi Hamenuna the Younger was asked to sing for the assembled guests at a wedding party of the son of Ravina, he said to them: "woe to us that we have to die, woe to us that we have to die!" They responded by asking what kind of a refrain they were supposed to sing to that. He answered: "there are Torah and the commandments which protect us." The Rabbi meant that the whole justification for lightheartedness at a wedding is to inspire fulfillment of the commandment to be fruitful and to multiply. Were it not for this, the fact that we are headed for death does not really encourage any merriness at all. This statement in the Talmud is followed by Rabbi Yochanan's comment that one must not fill one's mouth with laughter in this world. This indicates that we have correctly understood Rabbi Hamenunah's meaning. Whereas Rabbi Hamenunah justified merriment by the fact that man, at least as a species, is eternal, his colleagues added that seeing that each individual soul lives on by the merit of having performed the Torah's commandments, there is additional justification for such merriment. The true "wedding" of body and soul will take place in the future, as we say daily when putting on our phylacteries: וארשתיך לי לעולם, "I shall espouse you forever" (Hoseah 2,21). The prophet continues that this will be a faithful union, "באמונה." At that time, body and soul will have achieved a partnership of infinite duration. The Torah next legislates the procedures for inheritance, something described as משפט, social legislation. It tells us that, notwithstanding the original sin of man induced by the serpent, which brought mortality into the world, the property which mortal man leaves behind on this earth is transferred to his nearest surviving relative. Death notwithstanding, the bonds of blood relationship are not severed by a person's death. This proves that there is a "relationship" between the נפש of the deceased and the נפשות of his survivors. The various souls involved may be viewed as branches of the same tree. The closer the branch is to the root the more nourishing sap it receives from it. The Torah introduces the laws of inheritance with the words: "When a man dies and does not leave behind a son" (27,8), to teach us the order of priorities in which other surviving family members are viewed relative to the soul of the deceased. Since the rules mentioned apply to instances where there is no surviving issue of the deceased they are described by the Torah as חוקת משפט, legislation that contains elements that are not arrived at through logic.
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