Here we'll talk about another law of inheritance concerning the extra share that a Bechor (firstborn) receives, as well as other laws of inheritance. We'll mention it within the context of Yovel, every 50th year in Eretz Yisrael, when all the land that was sold during those previous 49 years returns to the original owner, the family that took possession of that plot of land during the times of Yehoshua ben Nun, when Bnei Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael. We'll mention what transfers of land do not return to their original owners on the Yovel.
The Mishnah says, “These do not return on the Yovel”: the Bechor's extra share; the property that one inherits from his wife. When a married woman dies, her husband inherits her estate. If it includes a field that was part of her family's inheritance or her family's share, he does not have to return it to her family on the Yovel. Ha-meyabem et eshet achiv, property of a deceased brother that was inherited by one who does Yibum (levirate marriage) with his brother's wife. Ha-matana, property that was a gift. This is the opinion of Rabbi Meir. According to him, only property that was sold returns on Yovel. Property that was inherited or given as a gift does not return during the Yovel.
The Chachamim (sages) disagree about that last case, a gift. They say that a gift is like a sale. Property that was gifted does return to the original owners, as a sale would. Rabbi Eliezer omer, says Rabbi Eliezer, all properties mentioned above do return on the Yovel. According to Rabbi Eliezer, just like Chachamim say that a gift has to be returned during the Yovel, he would say that a Bechor's extra share, the estate of one's wife, and the brother's estate granted to the Yavam (levirate husband) are all types of gifts. They're not inheritance, and therefore they all return during the Yovel. The Bechor or the Yavam, who are the heirs to the property's original owners, return the extra share they received to the rest of their brothers, and it's then divided equally among all of them. The estate of a wife returns to her family.
Rabbi Yochanan ben Beroka omer—says Rabbi Yochanan ben Beroka—commenting on the Tanna Kamma (first tanna) in the last case, who said that one's wife's estate does not return on the Yovel, is going to disagree, but with one exception. He's going to say that a person who inherits property from his wife that includes her family's cemetery has to return the cemetery to the members of the family on the Yovel. When a woman who owned her family's burial plot dies, her husband takes that plot. But it would be degrading for her family if they're buried among strangers and strangers use their family's cemetery. So the rabbis made a decree that the husband has to return it to his wife's family during the Yovel, but they would have to pay him for it since it's rightfully his through inheritance. And he could deduct for them the cost of his wife's grave from the price of the property. Since he's responsible to pay for his wife's grave, even though the wife's family has to pay the husband for the return of the family plot, they could deduct the value of her grave from the payment the husband is required to pay for the wife's burial plot. So he cannot ask her family to pay him for that grave.