JANUARY 19 • 2023 | 41

SPIRIT

Inheritance v.
Heritage
I

t is only natural for parents
to want to leave a legacy
for their children and
grandchildren. For those
fortunate enough to be able to
do so, this wish expresses
itself in the form of an
inheritance.
For most people, this
is simply not realistic.
How might they transmit
a legacy to the next
generation? The answer
can be found in the
distinction the Torah
makes between the words
yerusha (inheritance) and
morasha (heritage).
Yerusha is used
throughout the Torah
to describe the passing down
of material possessions from
parents to children. Morasha
is mentioned in the Torah in
reference to only two things:
Torah [“Moses prescribed the
Torah to us, an eternal heritage
(morasha) for the congregation
of Jacob” (Deuteronomy 33:4)]
and Land of Israel (the verse
cited above at the outset).
The different contexts reveal
a great deal about the different
kinds of relationships between
parents and children and
different priorities that these
bequests engender as they are
handed down.
While an inheritance is what
you receive from the previous
generation (without your
particular input), a heritage
requires your active involvement
and participation. A yerusha is
a check your father left you; a
morasha is a business that your
parents may have started, into
which you must put much sweat,
blood
Another distinction is not

how the gift is acquired, but
rather how it may be dispersed.
Even the largest amount of
money inherited (yerusha) can
be squandered or legitimately
lost. In contrast, a morasha
must be given intact to the
next generation. Morasha
literally means “to hand
over to someone else.
”
Silver is an inheritance and
can be used in whatever
way the heir desires; silver
Shabbat candlesticks are
a heritage, meant to be
passed down from parent
to child and used from
generation to generation.
Finally, in the case of an
inheritance, one must have
the object of yerusha in one’s
possession. This need not be the
case with regard to a morasha.
Jewish parents bequeathed the
ideals of Torah and the Land
of Israel to their children for
countless generations, even
while living in exile far from the
Promised Land, and even when
poverty and oppression made
it near impossible for them to
become Torah scholars. Values
can be passed down regardless of
one’s physical or material station
in life.
For this reason, an
inheritance, regardless of its
size, pales in comparison to a
heritage. We all want to be able
to bequeath a yerusha to our
children and grandchildren, and
we should do what we can to
make that possible. Nevertheless,
the most important legacy that
we can leave them is a morasha,
the eternal heritage of Torah and
the Land of Israel.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chancellor

of Ohr Torah Stone and chief rabbi of

Efrat, Israel.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi
Shlomo
Riskin

Parshat

Vaera: Exodus

6:2-9:35;

Ezekiel

28:25-29:21.

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