Study Guide Bava Batra 147

Today's daf is sponsored by Esther Kremer in loving memory of Manny Gross on his 2nd yahrzeit. "May his memory forever be a blessing."

Today's daf is sponsored by Marc and Debbie Pershan in loving memory of  Marc's mother, Perel Bayla bat Simcha, on the occasion of the shloshim.

From where do we learn that a declaration of a person on their deathbed is effective as if an act of acquiring was performed? The sages brought sources for the law from two verses in the Torah and two from the Prophets. Rava says in the name of Rav Nachman that this law is not derived from the Torah, but the rabbis instituted it to prevent the person from being overly distressed. The Gemara questions Rav Nachman from a different statement of Rav Nachman on a ruling of Shmuel. Shmuel held that if one sold a promissory note of a loan to another and then pardoned the original loan, the loan would be canceled, and even the heir of the original lender could cancel the loan. Rav Nachman explained that even Shmuel would agree though that if the promissory note were not sold to another but given as a gift from the lender on his/her deathbed, the heir cannot cancel the loan. This seems to show that the power of the words of a person on their deathbed is valid by Torah law as they are stronger than a regular gift. They resolve this difficulty by explaining that Rav Nachman gave it the strength of Torah law, even though it is rabbinic.

Rava quoted Rav Nachman that one cannot transfer intangible items - like the right to live in a house or the right to future fruits from a tree, even on one's deathbed. This seems to show that Rav Nachman treats a gift on one's deathbed like laws relating to gifts of one who is healthy. The Gemara raises a difficulty on this assumption.