אלא אמר רב אשי הכי קאמר אחד בן בין הבנים ואחד בת בין הבנות אם אמר יירש כל נכסי דבריו קיימין
shall inherit all my property', his instruction is legally valid.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because a person has a right to transmit all his property to any one individual of his legal heirs. He cannot, however, transmit his estate to a daughter when a son or his heirs are alive. Since the latter have the first legal claim as heirs to his estate, and one has no right to dispose of his bequests (unless in the manner of a gift) except accordance with the laws of succession.
');"><sup>26</sup></span> Whose view is here represented?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'like whom'.
');"><sup>27</sup></span> [Is it not that] of<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'like'.
');"><sup>28</sup></span>
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
The following paragraph, dealing with the laws of inheritance, also contains allusions to the Ineffable Name of G–d. The Kabbalistic commentator Rekanati expresses it thus: "The verse commencing with: ואל בני ישראל תדבר לאמור, איש כי ימות ובן אין לו “Say to the children of Israel ‘if a man dies and he does not leave behind a son, etc.” (27,8), tells us that even laws covering such mundane matters as the inheritance laws and other laws concerning interpersonal relationships, depend on the מרכבה עליונה Divine entourage in the Celestial Regions. Their evolution and emanation are rooted in those regions. תפארת ישראל and שכינת עזו respectively, are called בן ובת, who inherit חכמה and בינה known as אב ואם. These four concepts are mystically part of the Ineffable four-lettered Name of G–d. Keeping this in mind you can understand why the בן, son, takes precedence over the daughter when inheriting the property of their father or mother, and why the son is obligated to provide for the daughter (his sister). Our sages called this system “the sons inherit, whereas the daughters are provided for” (Baba Batra 122b).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
