Responsa for Bava Batra 287:3

האשה שהשביחה את הנכסים השביחה לאמצע: אשה בנכסי יתמי מאי עבידתה אמר רבי ירמיה באשה יורשת

He said to them. 'R. Safra is a great man; he [is] not [expected to] leave his studies in order to toil for others'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' When an elder brother is an important person, he is entitled to all the profits which are due to his efforts. even though he did not first make the proper declaration that he desired the estate to be divided and that he intended keeping to himself any profits he would make. ');">6 [WHERE] THE WIFE HAD EFFECTED IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ESTATE. SHE IMPROVED IT FOR THE COMMON GOOD — What has a wife to do with the property of orphans?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' She either receives the amount of her kethubah(v. Glos.) after which she has no more claim upon the estate: or she looks after the property of the orphans in return for her maintenance. How, then, could she claim any profits resulting from improvements in the estate. ');">7 — R. Jeremiah replied: [The Mishnah speaks] of a wife [who is] an heiress.8

Teshuvot Maharam

Q. A says that B's mother before her death instructed B to give A one Mina out of her possessions, since she had owed money to A's mother and did not remember whether or not she had repaid the entire sum. B denies having received such instructions from his mother, and further claims that A's mother owed him more than one Mina. But A has witnesses who testify that after his mother's death B admitted having received these instructions.
A. Since B's mother did not take the required oath regarding her ketubah, she had no property of her own; even the clothes she wore on week-days belonged to the estate. Consequently B is unable to carry out his mother's instructions. B is under no moral obligation to repay his mother's debt since the mother herself had not been pressed for payment.
SOURCES: Cr. 76.

Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy

Previous Verse Full Chapter Next Verse