הגמרא המבוארת- בבא בתרא דף קלט(עם ביאור שטיינזלץ)

This chapter continues the discussion commenced in the previous chapter with regard to the halakhot of inheritance. It focuses on halakhot that are based on rabbinic decrees and local custom rather than Torah law. Four fundamental issues are addressed in the chapter. The first issue concerns the division of an estate between the sons of the deceased, who are the heirs, and the deceased's daughters. Every marriage contract includes the following stipulation: Any female children you will have from me will live in my house and be sustained from my property until they are married (see Ketubot 52b). This stipulation ensures that the daughters are provided with sustenance from their father's estate until they either reach the age of majority or marry. This chapter discusses the division of the deceased's estate when it is insufficient to support both the sons and the daughters. It further discusses whether a tumtum, i.e., one whose sexual organs are indeterminate, is considered a male or a female with regard to this matter. The second issue concerns a situation where the heirs enhance their inheritance before dividing the property between them. In this case it is necessary to determine how to divide the profits accrued due to the enhancement of the property. The Gemara explores several cases where the manner of dividing the enhancement is not evident, e.g., when only some of the heirs invested in the property, or when some of the heirs are adult sons and some are minor sons. The third issue concerns instructions issued by a person on his deathbed. The Sages instituted that unlike the gift of a healthy person, the gift of a person on his deathbed does not require a formal act of acquisition, but is acquired by means of the verbal instruction of the person on his deathbed. This applies only if he transfers ownership of all his property. Furthermore, under certain circumstances he can retract the gift or transfer it to a different recipient. The fourth issue concerns a case where two relatives die under circumstances in which it is impossible to ascertain which of them died first. It is therefore unclear who inherits from whom, and to whom the property should now be transferred. This chapter examines the manner of adjudicating these cases of uncertainty.