The Book of Inheritances

Se‘adya Ga’on

920s

The first category is the category of children. It is divided into three subcategories. The first is the inheritance of males [together] with females. The second is the inheritance of males with other males. And the third is the inheritance of females with other females. These three constitute the division of inheritance among children. The second kind is the division of inheritance among grandchildren.

Let us start with the first subcategory and with all that pertains to it. If the children are males and females, there are two divisions, and what we investigate is the wealth of the deceased. If it is great, the males own the inheritance and spend it on their sisters until they grow up or get married. If the wealth is not great, and the daughters are minors, they must dedicate a part of it for the maintenance of the daughters until they grow up. If there remains something [beyond this amount], it is owed to the sons. If not, they do not get anything, in accordance with the saying of the sages:

If a man dies and leaves sons and daughters, if his wealth is great, the sons inherit it, and the daughters are maintained from it. If the wealth is small, the daughters are maintained from it and [if necessary,] the sons shall beg [for charity]. [m. Ketubbot 13:3]

The measure of determining “great” wealth, how much it is, is the following. If it was sold at that moment and would have been enough for the maintenance of all of them, sons and daughters, until they grow up—if it is like that, then it is given to the sons, and they spend it on the daughters [as well]. If it is less than this, the maintenance of the daughters is separated from it until they grow up, and the rest is given to the sons, according to the saying of the sages:

And how much is “great”? R. Judah said that Samuel said: What is [great enough] to maintain both these [the sons] and those [the daughters] until they grow up? And if it is not enough for both these and those until they grow up, the daughters take for themselves everything. Rava said: It was like this. They separate a part for the daughters until they grow up, and the rest is given to the sons. [See b. Bava Batra 139b–140a.]

If the property was determined to be “great” at the moment of the death, but afterward was reduced, the sons have already taken possession of it. Similarly, if it was determined as small, but afterward increased, it is returned to the sons.

Source: CUL T-S Ar.52.197.

Translated by Dora Zsom.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.

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Se‘adya Ga’on’s The Book of Inheritances (Kitāb al-mawārīth), like his other Judeo-Arabic halakhic codes, was a pioneering attempt to organize talmudic inheritance law into a coherent and accessible guide in a language that could be read by Arabic-speaking Jews. In addition to its focus on inheritance, this book included a summary of the laws of sale, because selling, like inheriting, constitutes a way of transferring ownership. The Book of Inheritances circulated more widely than Se‘adya’s other Judeo-Arabic halakhic writings, and the Cairo Geniza even preserved a Hebrew translation of it. A shortened version, in Judeo-Arabic, also survives from the medieval period. The focus on inheritance law in Islamic legal writings, an outgrowth of the attention it receives in the Qur’ān, may have spurred Se‘adya to write about it as well. This passage illustrates how Se‘adya categorized the law, intermittently citing relevant talmudic passages.

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Creator Bio

Se‘adya Ga’on

882–942

Se‘adya ben Joseph al-Fayyūmī, from the town of Dilāṣ in the Fayyūm region of Egypt, was one of the most significant figures in the early medieval world, reshaping rabbinic thought and literary culture according to the norms of the medieval Islamicate intellectual world in which he lived. Se‘adya played a decisive role in communal events and numerous intellectual fields. He polemicized against Karaites; composed early and influential works in Judeo-Arabic, of biblical exegesis, theology, linguistics, and law; composed a prayer book; and wrote liturgical poetry. He also translated much of the Hebrew Bible into Judeo-Arabic. Se‘adya began his literary career in Egypt but, around the year 900, went to study in the Palestinian academy in Tiberias. In 902, while still young, he composed the first Hebrew dictionary, the Egron, revising and expanding it until 930, when it had more than a thousand entries. At some point before 921, he came to Baghdad and participated in the calendar controversy that shook the Jewish world in 921 and 922. In 928, he was chosen to head the Sura academy by the exilarch David ben Zakkai. Only two years later, however, they began a conflict that went on for six or seven years, each of them deposing the other and appointing a replacement, until they finally reconciled.

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