Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]family has an interest in transmitting its property within the family, if at
all possible through direct vertical inheritance or, if that is not possible,
through transmission to the closest surviving relatives.
One aspect of rabbinic inheritance law suggests a weakening of uni-
lateral descent, or at least of the need to keep property within the patri-
lineage. While the Book of Numbers insists that a daughter who inherits
must marry within the patrilineage, rabbinic law allows daughters to
inherit unconditionally. Furthermore, in the absence of children, fa-
ther, or brothers, rabbinic law allows a man’s property to be bestowed
on his sisters and their heirs, even though this results in property being
transferred outside the deceased’s patrilineage. W hile a man’s property
can be inherited only by someone related to him through his father or
paternal grandfather, the heir may be a woman who has married or will
marry outside the patrilineage.
A na lysis of va r ious rabbi n ic tex t s t hat dea l w it h some a spect of fa m i ly
law indicates that family and kinship ties were constructed in a variety
of ways, depending on the situation. The laws of mourning are narrowly
applied, while incest laws reveal a broad definition of family. Some of
these differences can be explained by remembering the connection be-
tween rabbinic law and scriptural material. Leviticus , which ser ves as
the support for the obligation to mourn relatives, offers a very short list
of family members, while the cases mentioned in Leviticus and ,
the basis for the laws of incest, are more expansive. There are also social
factors involved in definitions of family. Mourning restricts an individ-
ual’s behavior for a specific period of time and requires that he or she be
supported by the community. It also responds to a perceived emotional
bond between the mourner and the deceased, a bond that renders the
mourner incapable of everyday social and economic intercourse. Such
a n ex pectat ion of more d ista nt relat ives may be u n rea sonable a nd m ig ht
leave the immediate family with fewer supporters during the mourning
period, placing a greater burden on the community. Extended incest
prohibitions, in contrast, do not place a burden on an individual’s abil-
ity to find a spouse, especially when the extensions focus primarily on
individuals who are several generations removed from Ego, women he
would be unlikely to marry in any event. Furthermore, the prohibitions
introduced by the rabbis do not restrict the types of marriages between