פירוש על בכורות 8:10

הבכורה – does not return [to the original owner] in the Jubilee year, as it is written (Deuteronomy 21:17): “a double portion, I make an analogy [of nearby verse fragments] of the two parts one to another, just as one part, his plain heir’s right does not return in the Jubilee year for it is an inheritance, as it is written (Deuteronomy 21:17): “When he wills the property to his sons,” even the part of is first-born son is [his] inheritance.

Introduction According to Leviticus 25, if a person grows poor and sells his ancestral lands, the lands return to him during the Jubilee year. From here we can learn that if a person receives land as an inheritance and then he sells that land, the land is returned to him during the Jubilee year.

והיורש את אשתו – for this [anonymous] Tanna/teacher holds that this is from the Torah, (Numbers 27:11): “[If his father had no brothers, you shall assign his property] to his nearest relative in his own clan, and he shall inherit it,” from here, [we learn] that the husband inherits his wife [who dies first].

The following do not return [to their owners] in Jubilee year: Our mishnah deals with cases where a person inherits land, it does not go back to its original owners to be divided up again during the Jubilee, in the same way that land that a person inherits does not leave his possession during the Jubilee.

והמיבם את אשת אחיו – and he took his brother’s portion, it is a complete inheritance and he doesn’t return to the rest of the brothers in the Jubilee year. For the All-Merciful calls him a first born (Deuteronomy 25:6): “The first son [that she bears shall be accounted to the dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out in Israel,] the firstborn status does not return in the Jubilee year as we have derived.

The share of the first-born, The extra portion that a son receives for being the first born. When the Jubilee year comes, this portion stays with the first born.

והמתנה כדברי ר' מאיר – it is something sold, that the All-Merciful stated that it be returned in the Jubilee year, but an inheritance and a gift is not [returned[.

[The inheritance of] one who inherits his wife's [estate] One who inherits his wife’s estate. Although this is not his own ancestral land, when the Jubilee years comes, it stays with him and does not go back to his wife’s family.

וחכמים אומרים מתנה כמכר – as it is written (Leviticus 25:13): “In this year of jubilee, each of you shall return to his holding.” But it is an extraneous verse, for it has already been stated (Leviticus 25:10): “Each of you shall return to his holding [and each of you shall return to his family],” but it (i.e., the extraneous verse] comes in order to include the gift that it comes.

[And of] one who performs yibbum with his sister-in-law As we learned in mishnah nine, when a brother performs yibbum, he inherits his brother’s estate. Again, this property stays with him at the Jubilee.

רבי אליעזר אומר כולן חוזרים ביובל – He holds like the Rabbis who state that the word תשובו /shall return [to his holding] includes the gift. And these all of them are a gift. The firstborn – to give him a “double portion” (Deuteronomy 21:17) the All-Merciful calls a gift. And the person who inherits his wife, the inheritance of the husband is according to the Rabbis. And the one who performs levirate marriage on the wife of his [deceased] brother (who died without fathering any children), the All-Merciful calls him a first-born, for just as the first-born portion returns, so the levir returns [his portion].

And a present, the words of Rabbi Meir. But the sages say: a present is like a sale. There is a debate over whether a present is restored during the Jubilee year. According to Rabbi Meir, if a person gives a piece of land to someone else as a present, the land does not revert to its original owner during the Jubilee year. The other sages disagree and hold that a present is just like a sale.

היורש את אשתו יחזיר לבני משפחה – Rabbi Yohanan ben Beroka holds that the inheritance of the husband of his [deceased] wife is from the Torah, and here, what are we dealing with? As For example, that his wife had bequeathed to him a cemetery, but because of the blemish/discredit to the family, the Rabbis stated that they should consider the cost and return the graves to the members of the family.

Rabbi Elazar says: all of these return in the Jubilee. Rabbi Elazar takes a more radical approach and holds that all of this property returns during the Jubilee to its original owners.

וינכה להם מן הדמים – the cost of the grave of his wife. For he, at any rate, is responsible for her burial. But the Halakha is according to the Sages that a gift is like a sale, and according to Rabbi Yohanan ben Beroka , for a husband whose wife bequeathed him a cemetery takes the money and returns the cemetery to the members of the family, and deducts from the monies the cost of his wife’s grave.

R. Johanan ben Berokah says: if one inherits his wife's estate, he returns it to the members of the family and he deducts from the purchase money. Rabbi Yohanan ben Berokah disagrees with Rabbi Meir as well and holds that a man must return his wife’s inheritance to her family at the Jubilee. However, he seems to hold that the family pays him back for the property. From this amount, he should reduce the amount that he benefited by owning the property for the years that he owned it. In this way, he doesn’t unduly profit.