Bava Batra 108 - October 11, 9 Tishrei

Study Guide and Pictures Bava Batra 108 What is the purpose of the small and large ditches around a field? Laws of inheritance begin with a list of which family relations inherit from each other and which bequeath to another. Some do both, some do neither and some do one or the other. Why does the Mishna begin with a son dying and passing on inheritance to his father and not the reverse case? The Torah delineates the order of who is first in the line of inheritance but the father is left off the list. The order in the Torah is son, daughter, brother, uncle (father's brother). Since the law that the father inherits the son is derived from a drasha, the author of the Mishna listed it first. According to the drasha, a father inherits if there are no children (before it goes to the brothers). Why not before the son? The son is considered the closest relative, as the son replaces his father for two laws, ye'ud and a consecrated ancestral field. But also a brother can replace his brother in yibum, so why isn't a brother considered closer?