Bava Batra 230

הא כיצד נחלה ממשמשת והולכת עד ראובן ולימא עד יעקב אמר אביי גמירי דלא כלה שבטא

In what manner [is] this [enquiry carried out]? — [In a manner that] the estate may ultimately find its way<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'goes on groping'. ');">¹</span> to Reuben.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The first ancestor of the tribe. As inquiries have to be made for descendants so, if no surviving descendants can be traced, similar inquiries have to be instituted for paternal ancestors and their rightful heirs. If, for example, the deceased has neither issue, nor a surviving father, brother, nephew (brother's son), niece, sister, nephew (sister's son); and none of the descendants of these is alive. And if inquiry has also established that there exists no surviving father's father, nor father's brother, father's nephew (father's brother's son), father's sister, nor nephew (father's sister's son), further inquiries must be carried on in descending order. Once it has been definitely established that none of the line survives, enquiries are instituted in an ascending order, on the paternal side, and are carried on from father (including their heirs, as in the case of the descending line), until the first ancestor of the tribe is reached. There is no need to go any higher since if any single member of the tribe survived his relationship to the deceased could be established. ');">²</span>

אמר רב הונא אמר רב כל האומר תירש בת עם בת הבן אפילו נשיא שבישראל אין שומעין לו שאינן אלא מעשה צדוקין דתניא בארבעה ועשרים בטבת תבנא לדיננא שהיו צדוקין אומרין תירש הבת עם בת הבן

Let him say. 'to Jacob'!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Why only as far as Reuben? ');">³</span> — Abaye replied: We have it by tradition that no tribe would become extinct.

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. ');">⁴</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'. ');">⁵</span>

קרא עליו את המקרא הזה (בראשית לו, כ) אלה בני שעיר החורי יושבי הארץ לוטן ושובל וצבעון וענה וכתיב (בראשית לו, כד) אלה בני צבעון ואיה וענה אלא מלמד שבא צבעון על אמו והוליד ענה

[to an inheritance] by virtue of his son's right, is heir to him, how much more so his daughter who derives her right from himself!' He<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Johanan. ');">⁶</span> read for him this verse, These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. XXXVI, 20. ');">⁷</span>

ודלמא תרי ענה הוו אמר רבה אמינא מלתא דלא אמרה שבור מלכא ומנו שמואל איכא דאמרי אמר רב פפא אמינא מלתא דלא אמרה שבור מלכא ומנו רבה אמר קרא (בראשית לו, כד) הוא ענה הוא ענה דמעיקרא

and [lower down] it is written, And these are the children of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. v. 24. How could Anah be a son and a brother to Zibeon? ');">⁸</span> — [But this] teaches that Zibeon had intercourse with his mother and begat Anah.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Anah was consequently his son and, being a son of his mother, also his brother. Anah, though a grandchild of Seir, is described as of the inhabitants of the land (Gen. XXXVI, 20) which proves that grandchildren have the same right of inheritance as children. ');">⁹</span>

אמר ליה רבי בכך אתה פוטרני אמר לו שוטה

Is it not possible that there were two [called] Anah? — Rabbah said: I would say something which King Shapur<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Shapur I, a king of Persia, was known for his friendship with Samuel, and the title was sometimes used as a surname of the latter. Raba also was sometimes so surnamed on account of his friendship with Shapur II. ');">¹⁰</span> [could] not have said; — and who is he? — Samuel; others say [that it was] R. Papa [who] said: I would say something which King Shapur [could] not have said — and who is he? — Raba;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [So Ms.M.; cur. edd., Rabbah!] ');">¹¹</span> 'Scripture says: This is Anah, [implying]: The same Anah that was [mentioned] before' — He said unto him: O, master, do you dismiss me with such [a feeble reply]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' My point is that a son's daughter has no more rights than a daughter, and you bring an instance from the law of a son's son which the Sadducees do not dispute. ');">¹²</span> — He said to him: Fool,