Study Bava Batra folio 119A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
לעולם בתי אבות קא חשיב, והא קא משמע לן – דבנות צלפחד נטלו חלק בכורה; אלמא ארץ ישראל מוחזקת היא.
The Talmud answers: Actually, the verse is counting fathers’ houses. And by also counting the inheritance of Zelophehad’s daughters, the verse teaches us this: That the daughters of Zelophehad took the portion of the firstborn due their father. Evidently, Eretz Yisrael is considered already in possession of one who was entitled to his portion of the land, even before the land was assigned. Although a firstborn son does not take a double portion of the property due to his deceased father as he does the property his father possessed, it is considered that Hepher possessed the portion that would eventually be assigned to him, and that Zelophehad was entitled to a double portion.
אמר מר: והבנים נטלו בזכות אבי אביהם, ובזכות אבי אמותיהן. והתניא: בזכות עצמן! לא קשיא; הא כמאן דאמר ליוצאי מצרים, הא כמאן דאמר לבאי הארץ.
§ The Talmud continues its discussion of the baraita. The Master says: And the sons of the spies and of the protesters took portions of the land in the merit of their paternal grandfathers and in the merit of their maternal grandfathers if those grandfathers were among those who left Egypt. The Talmud asks: But isn’t it taught in a baraita (Tosefta 7:10): The sons of the spies and of the protesters took portions in their own merit? The Talmud answers: This is not difficult: This baraita, which states they took portions in the merit of their grandfathers, is written in accordance with the opinion of the one who says that Eretz Yisrael was divided among those who left Egypt; and that baraita, which states that they took portions in their own merit, is written in accordance with the opinion of the one who says that Eretz Yisrael was divided among those who entered Eretz Yisrael.