Se uno dice: "Questo è mio figlio", si ritiene, [per indurlo a ereditare ed esonerare la sua (propria) moglie dallo yibum (matrimonio levirato)]. (Se uno dice :) "Questo è mio fratello", non si crede, [per farlo ereditare con i suoi fratelli, perché non lo riconoscono.] E lui (quello chiamato "mio fratello") prende (cioè , condivide) con lui (colui che lo chiama suo fratello) nella sua parte. [In modo che se c'erano due fratelli da parte dal safek (il "dubbioso"), e c'erano tre campi da dividere, uno ne prende uno e mezzo e l'altro ne prende uno e mezzo, e quello che chiama il safek che suo fratello gli dà metà campo, e l'altro non gli dà niente, dicendo: "Porta prove e prendi". Se muore [il safek], la proprietà [che gli viene data da suo fratello] torna al suo posto , [cioè a colui che glielo ha dato; ma gli altri fratelli non lo ereditano.] Se la proprietà cadde su di lui [il safek] da altrove [durante la sua vita, o se acquistasse proprietà e poi morisse], i suoi fratelli erediteranno con lui [colui che ha testimoniato su di lui. Perché lui (il Safek) ha ammesso di essere il loro fratello. Questo, quando gli altri fratelli non negano assolutamente che sia loro fratello, ma dicono solo che non lo riconoscono. Ma se lo negano, solo chi ha testimoniato per lui lo eredita.] Se uno è morto, e un daitiki [una volontà sul letto di morte ("daitiki" - "da tehei lemeikam ulemehevei"— "Questo sarà per stabilire e confermare")] sono stati trovati legati alla sua coscia, [nel qual caso non si può sostenere che un altro l'ha scritto e messo lì, anche così], non è nulla, [per l'acquisizione viene effettuata solo con il transfert dello scritto e "non c'è scritto dopo la morte".] Se ne investiva un altro, che sia uno degli eredi o uno che non sia un erede, le sue parole rimangono valide.
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
זה בני נאנון – to inherit him and to exempt his wife from levirate marriage.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
זה אחי אינו נאמן – to cause him to inherit with his brothers, for they do not recognize him.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.”
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
מת – [the one about whom there is] doubt.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
יחזרו – those properties that his brothers gave him.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
נפלו לו – to the one [about whom there is] doubt.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
נכסים ממקום אחר – during his lifetime; or he bought property and now is dead.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
ירשו אחיו – of the one who testifies that he is their brother.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
