Study Bekhorot folio 52A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ולא האשה בכתובתה, ולא הבנות במזונותיהן, ולא את היבם, וכולם אין נוטלין בשבח ולא בראוי כבמוחזק.
And neither does a woman take these portions, i.e., any enhancement of the value of the property or the property due the husband, from her husband’s property for payment of her marriage contract upon her divorce or her husband’s death; nor do the daughters take this share of the property for their sustenance, to which they are entitled from their late father’s possessions. Nor does a man whose married brother died childless [yavam] receive these portions, even though he acquires his brother’s portion of their shared father’s inheritance after performing levirate marriage with his brother’s wife. The Mishnah summarizes: And all of them do not take a portion in any enhancement of the value of the property after the death of the owner, nor do they take a portion in property due the deceased, as they do in property in his possession.
גמ׳ מאי טעמא? אמר קרא: ״ולו משפט הבכורה״ — משפט הבכורה לאיש, ואין משפט הבכורה לאשה.
Talmud: The Mishnah teaches that the firstborn son does not receive a double portion when inheriting the property of his mother. The Talmud asks: What is the reason? The Talmud explains that the verse states: “The law of primogeniture is his” (Deuteronomy 21:17); this is understood to mean that there is a law of primogeniture for a man, i.e., a duty to bequeath a double portion to his firstborn son, and there is no law of primogeniture for a woman.
ואינו נוטל בשבח. דכתיב: ״בכל אשר ימצא לו״, ולא בראוי כבמוחזק, דכתיב: ״בכל אשר ימצא לו״.
The Mishnah teaches further: And neither does he take twice the portion in any enhancement of the value of the property after the death of his father. The Talmud explains that this is because it is written: “A double portion of all that he has” (Deuteronomy 21:17), and this enhancement was not in his father’s possession at the time of his death. The Mishnah also teaches: Nor does he take twice the portion in property due the father, as he does in the property in possession of the father. The Talmud explains that this too is because it is written: “Of all that he has” (Deuteronomy 21:17), and property due the father is not in his possession.