Study Bekhorot folio 47A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
The requirement of “He shall recognize” with regard to a firstborn for inheritance, and the recognition of a husband’s face, are discrete matters.
§ It was stated that amora’im engaged in a dispute concerning the case of a man who had children when he was a non-Jew and he subsequently converted: R' Yoḥanan says he does not have a firstborn with regard to inheritance, i.e., a son who is his firstborn after his conversion does not inherit a dou
The Talmud comments: And these amora’im follow their regular line of reasoning, as it was stated: If a man had children when he was a non-Jew and he subsequently converted, R' Yoḥanan says: He has already fulfilled the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply, and R' Shimon ben Lakish says: He has not f
The Talmud adds: And it is necessary to state their opinions in both cases. As, if it were stated only in that first case with regard to inheritance, perhaps it is only in that case that R' Shimon ben Lakish says his opinion that the first son born after conversion inherits a double portion, because
And conversely, if their dispute were stated only with regard to this mitzva to be fruitful and multiply, perhaps it is only in this case that R' Yoḥanan says his opinion, due to the verse: “He formed it to be inhabited.” But with regard to that case of inheritance, say he concedes to R' Shimon ben