Talmud - Bekhorot 47b בכורות מ״ז ב׳

§ It was stated that in the case of a priest who married a divorcée and then died and left a son who was a priest disqualified due to flawed lineage [ḥalal] and has the status of a non-priest, Rav Ḥisda says: The son is obligated to redeem himself. Rabba bar Rav Huna says: He is not obligated to redeem himself. The Gemara explains: In any case that the father died after thirty days following the birth of the son, at which point the father was already obligated in his redemption, everyone agrees that the son is not obligated to redeem himself, as his father acquired his redemption money, i.e., it is as though he separated five sela coins and took the money for himself, since he is a priest.

They disagree when the father died within thirty days of the birth of the son, before the obligation of redemption had taken effect. Rav Ḥisda says the son is obligated to redeem himself, as his father did not acquire his redemption money. Rabba bar Rav Huna says the son is not obligated to redeem himself, as he can say to a priest who demands the redemption money from him: I come due to the strength of a man with whom you cannot enter into judgment, i.e., if my father were alive he would have separated five sela coins and taken the money for himself, and I inherit his claim.

The Gemara raises a challenge to the opinion of Rabba bar Rav Huna: We learned in the mishna: If one married a woman who converted while she was pregnant, having been impregnated by a gentile, the child is a firstborn with regard to redemption from a priest and must redeem himself. But why is this the halakha? Let this son say to the priest: I come due to the strength of a man with whom you cannot enter into judgment, as his father is a gentile, from whom the redemption money cannot be claimed. The Gemara responds: The case of a gentile is different, as he has no lineage [ḥayis], i.e., this man is not considered his father’s son at all.

On this matter, the Gemara notes that Rabbi Shimon Yasinia says that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish says, in accordance with the opinion of Rav Ḥisda: With regard to a priest who died within thirty days of the birth of his son and left a son who was a ḥalal, the son is obligated to redeem himself, as the father did not acquire his redemption money. If the father died after thirty days following the birth of the son, the son is not obligated to redeem himself, as his father already acquired his redemption money.

§ The mishna teaches: And likewise a woman who did not wait three months after the death of her husband and she married and gave birth and it is unknown whether the son was born after a pregnancy of nine months and is the son of the first husband, or after seven months and is the son of the second husband, the son is a firstborn with regard to redemption from a priest but is not a firstborn with regard to inheritance.

The Gemara infers: This son is not a firstborn with regard to inheritance, but he takes a share of the inheritance like an ordinary son. But why is he entitled to any inheritance? Let him go to that son of the first husband and he will reject him, by demanding proof that he is from his family, and likewise let him go to that son of the second husband and he will reject him in the same manner.

Rabbi Yirmeya says: This ruling that he is not a firstborn with regard to inheritance is necessary only with regard to the son who follows him, born to the second husband, to teach that he is not a firstborn with regard to inheritance, as this son of uncertain status might be his firstborn brother. And when the mishna states: The child is a firstborn with regard to redemption from a priest but is not a firstborn with regard to inheritance, this is what it is saying: This son of uncertain status is a firstborn with regard to redemption from a priest, and the son who follows him, born to the second husband, is not a firstborn with regard to inheritance.

The Gemara suggests: And let the son with uncertain status and the son who follows him write an authorization to one another, by which each grants the other the right to claim his own share. In this manner they can claim the double portion together, as one of them is certainly the firstborn. And if you would say that the mishna is dealing with a case where there was no authorization, we interpret it later on (see 49a) as referring to a situation where there was an authorization.

The Gemara answers: The mishna, which indicates that there is no firstborn with regard to inheritance here, supports the opinion of Rabbi Yannai, as Rabbi Yannai says: In a case where two sons of two men became confused and it is unknown who is the father of whom, if the two sons were initially recognized and were ultimately intermingled, each writes an authorization to the other, and the other sons in each family cannot claim that these sons are not their brother.

If they were not initially recognized and were ultimately intermingled, each does not write an authorization to the other, as even initially neither of them had any certain right to their father’s inheritance. Likewise, in the case of the uncertain son and the one who follows him in the mishna, neither one was ever recognized as his father’s firstborn. Therefore, writing an authorization is ineffective in claiming any inheritance.

MISHNA: Which is the offspring that is a firstborn both with regard to inheritance and with regard to redemption from a priest? In the case of a woman who miscarried a gestational sac full of water, or one full of blood, or one full of pieces of flesh; or one who miscarries a mass resembling a fish, or grasshoppers, or repugnant creatures, or creeping animals, or one who miscarries on the fortieth day after conception, the son who follows any of them is a firstborn with regard to inheritance and with regard to redemption from a priest.

In the case of a boy born by caesarean section and the son who follows him, both of them are not firstborn, neither with regard to inheritance nor with regard to redemption from a priest. Rabbi Shimon says: The first son is a firstborn with regard to inheritance if he is his father’s first son, and the second son is a firstborn with regard to redemption from a priest for five sela coins, because he is the first to emerge from the womb and he emerged in the usual way.

GEMARA: The mishna teaches that neither a son born by caesarean section nor the son who follows him are firstborn, neither with regard to inheritance nor with regard to redemption from a priest. The Gemara explains: The first son, born by caesarean section, is not considered the firstborn with regard to inheritance, as we require fulfillment of the verse: “And they have borne him children” (Deuteronomy 21:15), written in the context of inheritance, and a caesarean section is not called a birth. Likewise, with regard to the redemption with five sela coins, this son is also not considered the firstborn, as we require fulfillment of the verse: “Whatever opens the womb” (Exodus 13:2), and he did not open his mother’s womb.

Similarly, the second son who follows him is not considered the firstborn with regard to inheritance, as we require fulfillment of the verse: “For he is the first of his strength, the right of the firstborn is his” (Deuteronomy 21:17), and this son is not the first. In addition, he is also not considered the firstborn with regard to the redemption of five sela coins, as the tanna of the mishna holds: A firstborn for only one matter, i.e., he opened his mother’s womb but is not her first child, is not considered a firstborn with regard to redemption.

§ The mishna teaches that Rabbi Shimon says: The first son is a firstborn with regard to inheritance if he is his father’s first son, and the second son is a firstborn with regard to redemption from a priest for five sela coins. The Gemara explains: The verse states: “And they have borne him children,” and a caesarean section is not called a birth. Rabbi Shimon conforms to his standard line of reasoning, as he says with regard to a verse that deals with the ritual impurity of a woman after childbirth: “But if she bears a girl” (Leviticus 12:5), that the apparently superfluous term “she bears” serves to include a child born by caesarean section, and the same applies with regard to a firstborn for inheritance.

And Rabbi Shimon also rules that the second son is a firstborn with regard to redemption from a priest for five sela coins, as he maintains: A firstborn for only one matter, i.e., one who opened his mother’s womb but is not her first child, is considered a firstborn with regard to the redemption of the firstborn, despite the fact that he is not his mother’s first child.

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Bechorot 47b examines whether a disqualified priest's son must redeem himself, debating firstborn redemption obligations tied to his father's death timing.