For the source text click/tap here: Bava Batra 135
To download, click/tap here: PDF
If a person dies and a sickbed will is found tied to his thigh, so that there is no suspicion of forgery, the will still has no legal validity.
A new Mishna teaches that if a brother dies with documents tied to his thigh regarding gifts to be given after one's death, they should be ignored.
If the brother states that he wishes to give whatever is written in the note to someone, it is permitted even if that line of inheritance is not accepted. A healthy person's gift, however, might say: from today and after I die.
The rabbis are unclear about whether or not something can be a gift if it says, "from now". The rabbis continue to argue about whether or not we believe and follow the instructions that accompany a gift.
We explore the diatheke in and around the first 3 centuries including Dead Sea Scrolls.