Study Bava Batra folio 141B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
דתניא: ״המבשרני במה נפטר רחמה של אשתי; אם זכר – יטול מנה״, ילדה זכר – נוטל מנה. ״אם נקבה – מנה״; ילדה נקבה – נוטל מנה, ילדה זכר ונקבה – אין לו אלא מנה.
This is as it is taught in a baraita (Tosefta 9:5): In a case where one said: Whoever informs me as to what opened my wife’s womb, i.e., what the sex of her child is, if it is a male, the one who informs me should receive 100 dinars. Therefore, if the wife gave birth to a male, the one who informed him receives 100 dinars. If he also said: If it is a female he should receive 100 dinars, if she gave birth to a female, he receives 100 dinars. If she gave birth to a male and a female, he receives only 100 dinars.
והא ״זכר ונקבה״ לא אמר! דאמר נמי ״אם זכר ונקבה נמי – יטול מנה״. אלא למעוטי מאי? למעוטי נפל.
The Talmud challenges: But since he did not say anything about a male and a female, if she gave birth to a male and a female, he should not receive anything. Why does the baraita state that he receives 100 dinars? The Talmud answers: This is referring to where he also said: If she gives birth to a male and a female he should also receive 100 dinars. The Talmud asks: But if he stated all of the possibilities, what did his stipulations serve to exclude? The Talmud answers: They serve to exclude a case where she gives birth to a non-viable newborn, in which case he receives nothing.
ההוא דאמר לה לדביתהו: נכסי להאי דמעברת. אמר רב הונא: הוי מזכה לעובר, והמזכה לעובר לא קנה.
§ The Talmud relates: There was a certain man who said to his wife: My property is given to the one with whom you are pregnant. Rav Huna said: This is a case of one who transfers ownership of an item to a fetus, and in the case of one who transfers ownership of an item to a fetus, the fetus does not acquire the item.