Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]as his close kin? Given the incest laws in earlier chapters of Leviticus, it
would be reasonable to conclude that the priestly laws regarding mourn-
ing are extremely restrictive owing to their focus on priestly purity.
Rabbinic laws of mourning build on Leviticus but expand its defi-
nition of family. Part of this expansion resolves the status of married
women, acknowledging that marriage brings a woman into a new fam-
ily, that of her husband, while allowing her to retain her membership in
her family of origin. Or, to be more precise, it acknowledges that an indi-
vidual, male or female, may simultaneously be a member of three fami-
lies: his or her family of origin, the family created through marriage, and
the spouse’s family of origin. Both men and women are treated as mem-
bers of their spouses’ family in some ways but not in others, as we shall
see in discussions of testimony, inheritance, and incest.
The definition of family can be broadened by a study of the laws of
testimony. The third chapter of tractate Sanhedrin prohibits relatives
(qerovim) from serving as judges or witnesses in each other’s court
cases. This prohibition necessitates a discussion of who is considered a
relative. The list offered in the Mishnah focuses on male relatives, since
women are prohibited from serving as judges and may give testimony
only in very limited circumstances:
a. These are the relatives [who may not serve as judges or
witnesses]: his father and his brother, and his father’s brother
and his mother’s brother, and his sister’s husband, and his
father’s sister’s husband and his mother’s sister’s husband, and
his mother’s husband and his father-in-law and his brother-in-
law {his wife’s sister’s husband} — they and their sons and their
sons-in-law — and his stepson alone.^91
b. Said R. Yose: This is the teaching of R. Akiba, but the earlier
teaching [listed]: his uncle and his uncle’s son and anyone who is
eligible to inherit from him.
c. [The prohibition applies] to anyone who is related to him at the
time [when the person witnesses the matter that is in question,
or when the case comes before the court]. If he had been a
relative and then ceased to be a relative, he is fit [to serve].
d. R. Judah says: Even if his daughter died and [his son-in-law] had
children by her, [the son-in-law] is [still considered] a relative.^92