[ ]Mapping the Familyural heir’s rights are transferred upon his or her death to his or her chil-
dren.^101 If a ma n’s sons predecease h i m, t hei r su r v iv i ng ch i ld ren, ma le or
female, would take precedence over the man’s own daughters.^102
Inheritance is, for the most part, patrilineal. A man’s primary heirs
are members of his patrilineage: his children, his father, and his broth-
ers and sisters from the same father. The Mishnah affirms the right of
women to inherit in the absence of male heirs. The final clause of Mish-
nah Baba Batra :, “the father takes precedence over all of his issue,” al-
lows a man’s sisters to inherit his estate before his grandfather or pater-
nal uncles, because the sister’s claim derives from her deceased father
and is therefore superior to that of uncles or a grandfather. Furthermore,
in the event that a man has no children, siblings, or paternal uncles, and
was predeceased by his father and grandfather, his father’s sisters, his
paternal aunts, could inherit his estate. While preferring men to women
as heirs, in affirming the ability of women within the patrilineage to in-
herit from their fathers and brothers, as well as from more distant male
relatives, and their ability to transmit their inheritance rights to their
children, the Mishnah leaves open the possibility that a man’s estate
Figure 4. The order of inheritance in rabbinic law