Bais HaVaad on the Parsha, Parshas Pinchas

Heir in Law

Excerpted and adapted from a shiur by Dayan Yosef Greenwald

July 1, 2021

If his father has no brothers, you shall give over his inheritance to the kinsman (sh’eiro) closest to him in his family, who shall inherit it.

Bemidbar 29:11

In the Torah’s laws of inheritance, a person who dies is inherited by his closest male blood relative. According to the Rambam and Sefer Hachinuch, the Torah uses the word “veha’avartem”—and you (plural) shall give over—because the mitzvah of yerushah applies to the bais din, which is directed to ensure that the Torah’s inheritance protocol is followed. However, in the pasuk above, the Torah says “veyarash osah (and he shall inherit her).” According to Chazal, this refers to the husband inheriting “sh’eiro,” which means his wife (see Bava Basra 111b). It would seem from the use of the singular “he” in this instance that a husband’s yerushah of his wife is not part of the standard seder nachalos that bais din oversees. This is because the wife is not a blood relative. Her relationship with her husband is built upon marriage and the mutual obligations it engenders; he is obligated to provide for her in various ways during her lifetime, and in return, he inherits her assets if she dies.

There may be a practical application of this idea. A person is allowed to distribute his assets as he sees fit shortly before he dies, per the rule that “mitzvah lekayeim divrei hamais (it is a mitzvah to uphold the words of a dying person).” Nevertheless, it is recommended to leave at least some of one’s assets for distribution according to the Torah’s seder nachalos. In contrast, there does not appear to be any source that recommends that a woman in a second marriage leave aside some assets for her husband. Rather, it is customary that she gives it all to her children.