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Bava Basra 115b

בבא בתרא קט״ו ע״ב

Bava Batra 115b

Learn Bava Basra 115b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Inheritance tracing back to the tribes, and the dispute with the צדוקים over whether a daughter shares the estate with the son's daughter

Overview

The גמרא first explains how heirs are found when someone has no close relatives: you trace up the family tree, as far back as ראובן if needed. You never have to go further back to יעקב, because אביי says there is a tradition that a tribe never dies out completely. Then רב הונא, in the name of רב, rules that a daughter does NOT share the inheritance with the son's daughter, and anyone who says she does is following the צדוקים. A ברייתא proves this: the 24th of טבת was celebrated as the day the true law was restored over the צדוקים. In that story, רבן יוחנן בן זכאי demanded the צדוקים' source, and one old man answered with a קל וחומר: if the son's daughter inherits, surely the man's own daughter should. רבן יוחנן בן זכאי answered with two פסוקים about צבעון and ענה, showing that a grandson is counted like a son. The גמרא asks whether there might have been two people named ענה, and answers from the words "הוא ענה" that there was only one. The צדוקי complains that he is being brushed off, and רבן יוחנן בן זכאי begins his real answer, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

הָא כֵּיצַד?

How so?

נַחֲלָה מְמַשְׁמֶשֶׁת וְהוֹלֶכֶת,

The inheritance is examined and traced further and further,

עַד רְאוּבֵן.

up to Reuven.

וְלֵימָא עַד יַעֲקֹב!

But let it say: up to Yaakov!

The steps (13)

  1. QuestionHow is the inheritance traced?
  2. ResponseTrace the family back as far as ראובן
  3. ChallengeWhy stop at ראובן and not יעקב?
  4. ResolutionA tribe never dies out completely
  5. StatementIgnore anyone who says the daughter shares with the son's daughter
  6. ProofProof: a holiday marking the return to the true law
  7. Challengeרבן יוחנן בן זכאי challenges the Sadducees
  8. ProofAn old man's קל וחומר for the daughter
  9. RejectionThe verse about צבעון and ענה
  10. ChallengeMaybe there were two people named ענה
  11. ResolutionThe words "הוא ענה" show it is the same ענה
  12. ChallengeThe צדוקי complains he is being brushed off
  13. Rejectionרבן יוחנן בן זכאי begins his rebuttal