Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]a. A child whose status is uncertain and a levir come to divide
the property of the deceased {that is, the deceased husband of
the child’s mother, the levir’s brother}. The child whose status is
uncertain says: I am the child of the deceased, and the property
is mine. The levir says: You are my son, and you have no claim at
all to the property. The [appropriate disposition of the] money is
uncertain, and in such a case, they divide [the property equally].
b. A child whose status is uncertain and the sons of the levir come
to divide the property of the deceased. The child whose status is
uncertain says: I am the child of the deceased, and the property
is mine. The sons of the levir say: You are our brother, and you
have only a portion together with us.
c. The sages before R. Mesharshia thought to say: [This case is
comparable to] our Mishnah, which teaches, “[A child who is
born within three months of the death of his mother’s previous
husband and her marriage to her subsequent husband] cannot
inherit from [sons born to her from either husband], but they can
inherit from him.
d. Here it is the opposite. There [in the Mishnah], they say to him,
“Bring proof [that you are indeed the son of our father] and take
[a portion of his estate].” Here, he says to them, “Bring proof
[that I am not the son of the deceased] and take [a portion].”
{In the first case, he must prove that he shares a father with a
certain group of brothers. In the latter case, his claim to the
deceased’s estate is certain; he is either the deceased’s son and
should inherit everything, or he is the son of the levir and should
inherit part of the deceased’s estate through his connection to
the levir. The levir’s sons have an uncertain claim, for if the
child of uncertain status is the child of the deceased, they, as the
deceased’s nephews, have no standing.}
e. R. Mesharshia said to them: Are the two cases comparable?
There [in the Mishnah], their claim is certain and his is
uncertain. Here, both claims are uncertain [since both depend
on ascertaining the paternity of the one claimant].
f. Rather, if our case is comparable to a mishnaic ruling, it is to
this ruling: To a child of uncertain status and the sons of the levir
who come to divide the property of the levir himself, for there