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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