Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 14, scan section 20

ten [Prov. xvi. 14] : " The fury of a king is like the messengers of death; but a wise man will appease it." " This is the rule." Rami b. Hama questioned: If the de- ceased left a grandfather and a brother, as did Abraham and Jacob to the estate of Esau, who had the preference? Said * Leeser translates " dread," which does not correspond, t Leeser does not correspond at all. 25S THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. Rabha: Come and hear the decision of our Mishna, which states that the father has the preference before all his descend- ants. Rami, however, maintains that the father has the pref- erence over his descendants, but not over the descendants of his son. (Says the Gemara:) It seems that Rami is right. As the Mishna states, this is the rule : He who has preference con- cerning inheritance, his descendants have the same. Now, if when Esau died Isaac and Abraham were both alive, Isaac would have had the preference to the estate; the same would have been the case if Isaac had been dead. Then Jacob w^ould have had the preference over Abraham, because he was a de- scendant of Isaac. Infer from this that so it is. MISHNA ///. : The daughters of Z'lophchod have in- herited three shares from the inheritance of their father, his share as one of the ascendants from Egypt, his share in the division of Chipher his father (who was also among the ascend- ants from Egypt), and because he was a first-born he inherited a double share. GEMARA : Our Mishna is in accordance with him who said that the land was divided among the ascendants from Egypt, and not to their children {i.e., the person who entered the land of Israel, if he was among the ascendants of Egypt, took his share, and divided it among his children; and if an ascend- ant had died and his children entered the land, the share of their deceased father was given to them and they divided it among themselves), as we have learned in the following Bo- raitha: R. lashiah said: The land was divided to the ascendants of Egypt, as it is written [Numb. xxvi. 55], " According to the names of the tribes of their fathers." But how does this corre- spond with [il)id. 53]. "unto these shall the land be divided," which means to those who entered the land? Those arc meant who are of sufficient age (twenty years), excluding the minors. R. Jonathan, however, said that to those who entered the land it was apportioned, not to their fathers, as it is written in the verse just cited. But how would this correspond with verse 55 ? This inheritance is different from all other inheritances, as in all others the living inherit from the dead, and here the dead inherit from the living; and to illustrate this, said Rabbi. I shall give you a parable. It is similar to the case of two priests in one city, one of whom has one son, while the other has two; TRACT BABA BATHRA (LAST GATE). 259 and when they go to the barn to take the Tarumaj he who has only one son takes one share {e.g., a saah), and he who has two takes two shares, and they turn them over to their fathers, who divide the shares equally among themselves, according to the number of souls. Such, also, was the apportionment of the land of Israel. Each received land according to the num- ber of his souls, and after that they divided it among them- selves according to the number of the heads of the family who were of the ascendants from Egypt; hence the dead ascendants inherit from the living. R. Simeon b. Elazar, however, said that the land v/as apportioned to both, in the manner stated in both of the above-cited verses. How so? He who was of the ascendants from Eg3-pt took his share among them, and he who was of those who entered the land of Israel took his share among them, and he who was of both the ascendants and the entering took his shares with both of them. The shares of the spies Joshuah and Caleb took and divided equally. Tliose who mur- mured and the congregation of Kora'h had no share in the land at all, and their children took their shares, as the direct heirs of their grandfathers on both the paternal and maternal sides. But whence do you know that in Num. xxvi. the ascendants from Egypt are meant ? Perhaps it means the tribes themselves who entered the land? It is written [Ex. vi. 8]: "I will give it you for an heritage." Inheritance implies from parents to chil- dren, and this was said to the ascendants from Egypt. Said R. Papa to Abayi : It is understood by him who says that the land was divided among the ascendants from Egypt [Num. xxvi. 54]. " To the large tribe shalt thou give the more inheritance, and to the small shalt thou give the less inheri- tance." etc. ; but to him who says " to those who entered the land," what does this verse mean? This objection remains. R. Papa said again to the same : To him who said that the land was divided to the ascendants it is to be understood why the daughters of Z'lophchod sued for their father's share ; but according to him who says " to those who entered the land," for what did they sue? There was no share for them, as Z'loph- chod was dead and he had no share. They sued that the share of their deceased father might be given to their grandfather Chipher. and that they misfht take their shares in succession. (He said again 🙂 It is comprehended by him who says " the 26o THE BABYLOxNlAN TALMUD. ascendants," etc., why the children of Joseph cried [Joshua, xvii. 14], "Why hast thou given me but one lot and one por- tion of inheritance?" But to him who says "to those who entered," why did they cry — each of them took his share? They cried concerning the minor children, which were numerous. Said Abayi : From all this is to be inferred that all who entered the land of Israel had a share; and if not, they protested. And lest one say that he whose protest had effect is written, and he whose protest had no effect is not written, then the protest of the children of Joseph was of no effect and nevertheless written down. This is beside the purpose of the verse, which is aimed to convey good advice to mankind; in effect, that one shall take care not to be afiflicted by a covetous eye. And this is what Joshuah said to the children of Joseph [ibid. 15], " If thou art a numerous people, then get thee up to the wood country," which means, " Go and hide thyself in the forest, that no covet- ous eye may af^ict thee "; and they answered: We are the de- scendants of Joseph, whom a covetous eye cannot afflict. As it is written, etc. [see Middle Gate, p. 213]. The text says that the shares of the spies Joshua and Caleb inherited. Whence is this deduced? Said Ula: It is written [Numbers, xiv. 38] : " But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb . . . remained alive." What is meant by " remained alive "? Shall we assume it is meant literally? To this there