For the source text click/tap here: Bava Batra 124
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As we have learned, the Torah commands (see Devarim 21:15-17) that the firstborn son will receive a double portion of the estate left by his father at the time of his death. What if the estate grows after the father’s death, but before the children have had time to divide it up into the shares that they will receive? Will the firstborn get a double portion in those additional profits?
We explore the concept of firstborn and primogeniture and its repudiation in the writings of Adam Smith and the brith of the republic.