Komentarz do Bawa batra 8:4

אחד הבן ואחד הבת בנחלה – this is what he said: both the son and the daughter are equivalent in the inheritance of the property of the mother, [just as in the inheritance] of the property of the father. And there is no difference between the inheritance of the property of the mother to the inheritance of the property of the father other than that the first born son takes a double portion in the property of the father but does not take a double portion in the property of the mother.

Introduction Mishnah four deals with the difference between the inheritance of the son and the daughter.

The son and the daughter are alike concerning inheritance, save that the [firstborn] son takes a double portion of the father’s property but he does not take a double portion of the mother’s property. And the daughters receive maintenance from the father’s property but not from the mother’s property. This mishnah lists the differences between sons and daughters with regards to inheritance. (Note: daughters only inherit when there are no sons). The first difference is that the eldest son inherits the double portion, whereas the eldest daughter would inherit equally with younger sisters. Furthermore, the son inherits a double portion of his father’s inheritance but not of his mother’s inheritance. The law of the double portion are found in Deuteronomy 21:15. If a man should die and leave sons and daughters, the sons inherit the estate but the minor daughters are maintained, i.e. fed, clothed, housed and in general provided for, by the estate of the deceased father. We will learn this principle in chapter nine. Here the mishnah states that the daughters, when receiving maintenance payments, receive them only from the estate of the father and not from the estate of the mother.

Questions for Further Thought:
• Section one is actually worded in a somewhat difficult manner. What makes it difficult?