Do inheritance laws change depending on what time of day a person dies? This might seem like a strange question, but a beraita on today’s daf suggests that they might:
Rabba bar Hanina taught before Rav Nahman: The Torah states: “Then it shall be on the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has” (Deuteronomy 21:16). This teaches during the day you may distribute inheritances, but you may not distribute inheritances at night.
Relying on the principle that there are no unnecessary words in the Torah, Rabba bar Hanina notes that the passage about the double portion inherited by firstborn sons has a seemingly superfluous phrase: “on the day.” He then posits that these additional words mean that inheritances can only be distributed during the day, but not at night.
Abaye challenges this understanding:
If that is so, then only one who dies during the day is the one from whom his children inherit, but one who dies at night, his children do not inherit from him.
If Rabba bar Hanina’s inference is correct, it would mean that children inherit from their parents only if they die during the day, and that surely can’t be so. How then should we understand the Torah’s inclusion of the seemingly extraneous phrase “on the day”?
Abaye continues:
Perhaps you said with regard to the adjudication of inheritances, as it is taught: “And it shall be for the children of Israel a statute of judgment” (Numbers 27:11), teaching that the entire portion was placed together to be a judgment.
Abaye notes that Numbers 27:11, which also concerns inheritance, notes that bequests are a “statute of judgment,” subject to the procedural rules of a court ruling, and courts meet only during the day. Abaye thus harmonizes the two verses in order to posit that while people might die at any hour, a will can only be executed and assets transferred during the day when court is in session. (Interestingly, the verse in Numbers comes as a coda to the story of the daughters of Zelophechad, who demand the ability to inherit from their father in the absence of any brothers rather than let their family holding be transferred to another tribe.)
A court, or beit din, is made up of three people. Abaye now asks what happens if the dying person has three visitors who can form a beit din. Can that happen at night?
Three who entered to visit a sick person (and the sick person desired to write a will), if they wish they may write. And if they wish, they may act in judgment. But if two came, they may write, but they may not act in judgment. And Rav Hisda says: This was taught only during the day, but if at night, even if three came, they may write but they may not act in judgment.
At a time when there were no legal notices in the paper, keeping others (including possible inheritors who weren’t in the room when the death occurred) in the dark is contrary to the Torah’s desire to shed light on the matter of inheritance. And so, while people surely die at all times of day, only in the light of day and in a court of law can a judgment on their will be finalized.
Read all of Bava Batra 113 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on October 16, 2024. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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