Bava Basra 111b

בבא בתרא קי״א ע״ב

Bava Batra 111b

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Topic

The בכור's double portion only from the father, and the source that a husband inherits his wife

Overview

This amud begins at the end of a story: רבי ינאי walks away from a questioner who, he says, does not really want to learn. The גמרא then asks for the source that a בכור does not take a double portion of his mother's estate. אביי learns it from ״לוֹ״ ('to him, not to her'). רב נחמן בר יצחק learns it from ״אוֹנוֹ״ ('his strength, not hers'), and the extra ו in that word is shown to teach two lessons. But each of these proofs might cover only a narrow case. So רבא gives the final source, ״לוֹ מִשְׁפַּט הַבְּכֹרָה״: the firstborn's right exists only for a man. Next the גמרא turns to the משנה's rule that a husband inherits his wife and she does not inherit him. A ברייתא reads ״שְׁאֵרוֹ״ as his wife, and אביי and רבא argue over how the פסוק must be read to fit that. רבי עקיבא learns the rule from ״וְיָרַשׁ אוֹתָהּ״. רבי ישמעאל instead proves it from the פסוקים about land moving between tribes, from the hill of פנחס, and from the cities of יאיר. The point of the יאיר proof comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (20)

1. StatementThe sage asks to be taken away from a questioner who does not want to learn
2. QuestionWhat is the reason for the rule?
3. Responseאביי: the word ״לוֹ״ means him, not her
4. ChallengeMaybe ״לוֹ״ only covers a man who married a widow
5. Resolutionרב נחמן בר יצחק: ״אוֹנוֹ״ means his strength, not hers
6. Challenge״אוֹנוֹ״ is already needed for a son born after נפלים
7. ResolutionThe extra letter in 'his strength' teaches two things
8. ChallengeMaybe this only excludes a widower's second wife
9. Resolutionרבא: the firstborn's right belongs to a man
10. QuestionWhat is the source that a husband inherits his wife?
11. Response''His kin'' is his wife, and ''he inherits her'' only
12. ChallengeThe verse doesn't read that way
13. Resolutionאביי splits the verse into two parts
14. Rejectionרבא rejects cutting up the verse
15. Resolutionרבא moves two letters to make 'to him'
16. Statementרבי עקיבא learns it from 'he shall inherit her'
17. Statementרבי ישמעאל: the tribal-land verse already assumes it
18. ProofTwo more verses about land not moving between tribes
19. ProofProof from the hill of פנחס
20. ProofStarting the proof from יאיר's cities