Study Bava Batra folio 142A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ולימא ליה דאמר לכשתלד! רב הונא לטעמיה, דאמר רב הונא: אף לכשתלד – לא קנה.
The Talmud proposes another resolution to Rav Naḥman’s objection: But let Rav Huna say to Rav Naḥman that the Mishnah is referring to one who says that the transfer of ownership should take effect when she gives birth, at which point the child already exists. The Talmud rejects this resolution: Rav Huna does not interpret the Mishnah in this way, because Rav Huna conforms to his line of reasoning, as Rav Huna says: Even if one says that the transfer of ownership should take effect when she gives birth, the fetus does not acquire it.
דאמר רב נחמן: המזכה לעובר – לא קנה. לכשתלד – קנה. ורב הונא אמר: אף לכשתלד – לא קנה. ורב ששת אמר: אחד זה ואחד זה קנה.
The Talmud clarifies: As Rav Naḥman says: With regard to one who transfers ownership of an item to a fetus, the fetus does not acquire it. But if he says that the transfer of ownership of the item should take effect when she gives birth, the fetus acquires it. And Rav Huna says: Even if he says that the transfer of ownership of the item should take effect when she gives birth, the fetus does not acquire it, because the fetus did not exist in the world when he transferred ownership. And Rav Sheshet says: In both this case and that case, the fetus acquires the item.
אמר רב ששת: מנא אמינא לה? דתניא: גר שמת, ובזבזו ישראל נכסיו, ושמעו שיש לו בן או שהיתה אשתו מעוברת – חייבין להחזיר. החזירו הכל, ואחר כך שמעו שמת בנו או שהפילה אשתו – החזיק בשניה, קנה; ובראשונה, לא קנה.
Rav Sheshet said: From where do I say that the fetus acquires the item? As it is taught in a baraita: With regard to a convert who died, apparently without offspring, and Jews plundered [uvizbezu] his property, assuming that he had no heirs and his property was therefore ownerless, and subsequently they heard that he had a son or that his wife was pregnant, they are obligated to return the property. If they returned it all, and then they heard that his son died or that his wife miscarried, if one took possession at the second time, after hearing about the death or the miscarriage, he acquired the property, but if one took possession only at the first time, before it was known there was an heir at all, he did not acquire the property.