7. Although a gift is initiated by the giver, there still exists a connection to the recipient. After all, is not a gift something that the giver grants to another person, the recipient? Moreover, the giver is attracted to the recipient; he grants the gift because the recipient generated satisfaction for him. In this, there is a similarity to the concept of a lottery. Even though choosing an object by means of casting a lot is not connected with the positive qualities of the object that is thus chosen, there is nonetheless a dimension of acquisition – a transfer of something of substance – involved, for, when properties are divided by casting lots, the person casting the lots wants to receive one of several entities and he casts the lots to determine how he will divide those entities with another person. It is only that the entity he receives is not determined by his choice, but by the lottery.
An inheritance represents a third – and distinctly different – concept. Inheritance does not involve giving something to a recipient. On the contrary, in a legal context, the heir is the embodiment of the person whose estate he is inheriting; he is not a separate person to whom the estate from his parent or relative is transferred. Instead – to borrow the wording of a verse, “In the place of your forbearers will be your sons” – the heir assumes the position of the person whose estate he is inheriting because he is essentially one with him. Accordingly, as a matter of course, he assumes ownership of the property.
As such, an inheritance possesses an advantage over a sale and a gift. A sale and a gift (and a lottery) involve something being given or transferred from one person to another. They do not involve a person as he exists for himself, but rather as he transfers an entity to another person outside of himself. The difference between a sale and a gift concerns only the reason for the transfer. With regard to a sale, the purchaser (more precisely, his money) is the reason for the transfer, while the reason for a gift is the desire of the giver. However, even the desire of the giver is to convey the gift to another person.
By contrast, an inheritance is not being transferred to a person other than the owner of the estate. The heir receives the property because he assumes the identity of the owner of the estate.
