Here’s another situation in which there was an accident. Two people died, but we’re not sure who died first. The Mishnah says the outcome would change how inheritance works. A house fell on a man and his wife, killing both of them, but we’re unsure which one died first. That doubt causes a machloket (dispute) about who inherits the wife’s property. Generally, if a wife passes away, her husband will inherit, and their children will as well. We have to note that in this case, the husband and wife, who both died, must not have had any children together, because their children would inherit after them, and we don’t have that as an option in this Mishnah. So they had no children.
Yorshei ha-ba’al omrim—the inheritance, inheritors of the husband. Let’s say he had sons from another wife. They’re claiming, “ha-isha met ha-rishona, ve-ahar kach met ha-ba’al”: the wife died first, and then the husband died afterwards. That would mean the wife died, and her inheritance went to her husband. Then her husband died, but he had already absorbed his wife’s possessions, so his children from another marriage would receive those properties. That’s what they’re claiming.
But Yorshei ha-isha omrim—the heirs, the inheritors of the wife—are claiming differently. Let’s say her heirs are either her father or her sons from another marriage. They’re claiming, “ha-ba’al met rishon, ve-ahar kach met ha-isha”: the husband died first, and then the wife died afterwards. So the husband never inherited his wife’s property, and it belongs to her inheritors. We’ll have a machloket between Tannaim (Mishnaic sages) over who is going to receive the wife’s property in this case.
There are three types of property that a woman could bring into a marriage. Number one, melog property. That’s property that the wife brings in, but she owns it throughout her marriage. The husband is entitled to use the property while he’s married to her, but he’s not responsible for its value. He never owns it. Secondly, tzon barzel property, where we record the amount in the ketubah (marriage contract) when the woman gets married. The husband is responsible for the amount listed in the ketubah, and he has to pay her that value if he divorces her or if he dies before her. The third type is the ketubah itself. In a standard marriage, the wife receives 200 zuz (coins) when she gets married, and she is owed that once the husband passes away.
So we’ll first bring the opinion of Beit Shammai. Beit Shammai omrim yachloku: as in the last Mishnah, Beit Shammai says that the inheritors of the husband and the inheritors of the wife divide the property. We don’t know who died first, so both claims here are equal. They both have an argument, and therefore each receives half of it.
Now we’ll have the opinion of Beit Hillel, who says it depends on the type of property we mentioned above. Beit Hillel omrim nechassim bechezkatan: Beit Hillel says the tzon barzel property remains in its presumed status. That’s the tzon barzel property that the husband is obligated to pay the woman back for when the marriage ends. So we say it stays in its presumed status. What does that mean? Bartenura explains that we don’t have clarity about what this means. Does it mean that the property stays in its presumed status and goes to the wife’s heirs because she owned it? Or do we say that we presume the status belongs to the husband here because he guaranteed its value? He took responsibility for it. So right now, it’s as if he possesses it because he took responsibility for it. So maybe his heirs get it. We don’t have clarity here. Therefore, Bartenura says we split it. We split it because we don’t even understand what Beit Hillel is saying. So we split this type of property. That’s number one.
Number two, the ketubah remains in its previous state: it belongs to the husband’s heirs. The husband was in possession of the ketubah property. Let’s say it was the 200 zuz that he would be obligated to pay his wife in the event of divorce or his death. The husband is in possession of it; he never paid it to his wife. Therefore, since he is in possession and now he’s dead, when the accident took place, the money was in his estate. So his inheritors, his heirs, would hold onto that money. It doesn’t go to the wife’s inheritors.
As for the property that enters and leaves the marriage with her, that’s called melog property. The husband could use it while they’re married, but she owns it the entire time. It remains in its previous state, belonging to the wife’s heirs, the inheritors of the wife. She owned it the whole time, so it’s hers, and her inheritors would keep it. We call them here Yorshei ha-av, the heirs of the father, which is another way of referring to the heirs of the wife. We refer to them that way because the wife in this situation probably received the property from her father, so we call it as if it were his property.