Si uno dice: "Este es mi hijo", se cree, [para hacer que herede y exima a su (propia) esposa del yibum (matrimonio con levirato)]. (Si uno dice :) "Este es mi hermano", no se le cree, [para que herede con sus hermanos, porque no lo reconocen.] Y él (el llamado "mi hermano") toma (es decir, , comparte) con él (el que lo llama su hermano) en su parte. [De modo que si había dos hermanos a un lado de la caja fuerte (el "dudoso") y había tres campos para que se dividieran, uno toma uno y medio, y el otro toma uno y medio, y el que llama al seguro que su hermano le da la mitad del campo, y el otro no le da nada, diciendo: "Trae pruebas y toma".] Si él [el seguro] muere, la propiedad [que le dio su hermano] regresa a su lugar , [es decir, a quien se lo dio; pero los otros hermanos no lo heredan.] Si la propiedad le cayó a él [la caja fuerte] de otro lugar [en su vida, o si compró una propiedad y luego murió], sus hermanos heredan con él [el que testificó sobre él. Para él (el safek) les admitió que él es su hermano. Esto, cuando los otros hermanos no niegan absolutamente que él sea su hermano, sino que solo dicen que no lo reconocen. Pero si lo niegan, solo el que testificó por él lo hereda.] Si uno murió, y un daitiki [un lecho de muerte lo hará ("daitiki" - "da tehei lemeikam ulemehevei"— "Esto será para establecer y confirmar")] se encontraron atados a su muslo, [en cuyo caso no se puede mantener que otro lo escribió y lo colocó allí, aun así], no es nada, [porque la adquisición se efectúa solo con transferencia del escrito, y "no hay escrito después de la muerte".] Si invirtió a otro con él, ya sea uno de los herederos, o uno no heredero, sus palabras son válidas.
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
זה בני נאנון – to inherit him and to exempt his wife from levirate marriage.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
Introduction
Mishnah six deals with a father’s ability to declare that a certain person is either his son or his brother in order that he should be his legal inheritor.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
זה אחי אינו נאמן – to cause him to inherit with his brothers, for they do not recognize him.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
If a man said, “This is my son”, he is believed. If [he said], “This is my brother”, he is not believed, yet the other may join him in his portion. If he died the property returns to its place. If he inherited property from elsewhere the other’s brothers inherit it together with him. If a man states that a certain person is his son, and therefore should inherit his property along with his other sons, he is believed. Since he could give his property to this person in any case, we allow him to claim that the person is his son so that he may receive a portion of the inheritance. However, he is not to believed to say that a person is his brother and therefore should share in the inheritance from his father. Since, by saying that a person is his brother and deserves part of the inheritance he would be taking away from the shares of the other brothers, he is not believed. Suppose a case in which Reuven and Shimon come to split an inheritance and Shimon claims that Levi is his brother. If they were to split equally, Reuven would receive a third of the inheritance and not the half, which would be his had Shimon been his only brother. Therefore Reuven takes half and Shimon and Levi split the other half. If Levi were to die, the money would revert to Shimon. Since the money was taken out of Shimon’s share in the first place, the money would eventually revert to him and not to Reuven. If Levi were to receive money from somewhere else (i.e. not from his father’s inheritance) and then die, Reuven and Shimon would both inherit. Since Shimon claimed that Levi was his and Reuven’s brother he must share the inheritance from Levi with Reuven.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
ונוטל עמו בחלקו – as for example, if they are two brothers, besides the doubt, and they have to divide three fields, This one takes a field and one-half, and that one takes a field and one-half, and the third one testifies on the doubt that he is their brother, he gives him one-half of the field, but the other does not give him anything, or he says to him: “bring proof and then take.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
If a man died and a testament was found bound to his thigh, this counts as nothing. But if [he had delivered it and] through it granted title to another, whether of his heirs or of those who are not his heirs, his words are valid. If a man died and a testament (will) was found on him, the will is invalid. Although we may assume that the man wrote the document we do not know if he intended to give it to the intended person. Since he may have written it and changed his mind, the document is not valid. If, however, he gave the document to someone else before he died the document is valid. Since it was given while the person was alive, it is a proper will and it will be carried out.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
מת – [the one about whom there is] doubt.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
יחזרו – those properties that his brothers gave him.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
למקומן – meaning to say, to whomever had given them to him, but the other brothers do not inherit with him.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
נפלו לו – to the one [about whom there is] doubt.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
נכסים ממקום אחר – during his lifetime; or he bought property and now is dead.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
ירשו אחיו – of the one who testifies that he is their brother.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
עמו – for surely he admits to them that he is their brother, but these words [concern] when the rest of the brothers did not deny to state that he definitely is not their brother, but rather claim that they don’t recognize him, but if they deny that he is their brother, they do not inherit him other than the one who testified about him alone.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
דיאתיקי – a will of someone on his deathbed. And the language of דיאתיקי is this what shall be established and come to pass.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
קשורה לו ביריכו – that is not to say that after it was written and placed there, even so it is worthless, for he did not complete to transfer possession other than with the receipt of a document, but there is no document after death.
