Bava Batra 122: The Inequities of Inheritance; Striving for Fairness

The Gemara ask about how HaAretz was divided among the tribes - was the division based on groups or individuals?  A number of opinions are shared.  These include the inclusion of Levi as the 13th tribe when the division happens with Moshiach, by tribe, by land value, by lottery, by the Urim v'Tummim, the chest plate, according to the quality of the land, and so on.

Within this conversation is information about the dreams of our rabbis.  It is suggested that in the world-to-come, each person will receive equal shares of land - including mountain, valley and field.  The rabbis must have been keenly aware of the inequities that they had to accept and explain.  As well, they lived in a time of similar stratification and unequal divisions of wealth.

A new Mishna teaches that sons and daughters inherit in the same ways, except that a firstborn son will receive a double portion of his father's property but not his mother's property; daughters are cared for from their father's property but not from their mother's property.  

The Gemara asks what it means when we learn that sons and daughters inherit in the same way.  Do they split the inheritance?  But we know that a son inherits before a daughter.  We also know that Zelophchad's daughters inherited three portions, including their father's share of his father's portion (his second portion as firstborn).

The Gemara clarifies:  perhaps daughters inherit in the same way as sons inherit when there are no sons.  Perhaps when parents make a decision about inheritance and they have all sons or all daughters, their wishes should take effect.  In fact, R. Yochanan ben Berocha says that if a person should indicate that another should be his inheritor - and it is permitted - then that inheritance is valid.  Then again, perhaps this is not said because it is understood.

Finally, the rabbis state that when there are no sons, a daughter inherits the property of a mother and a father just like a son.  However, a firstborn son receives a double portion from the father's property but not in the mother's property.