Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]does not acquire the woman as his wife, cannot marry her when he
reaches majority if an adult brother performs any one of these acts.}This mishna, together with the mishnayot of the fifth chapter of Yeva-
mot, posits situations in which more than one brother performs an act
that affects the status of the yevama vis-à-vis all of the brothers. These
sou rces sug gest t hat brot hers may act i n ways t hat ma r a not her brot her’s
attempt to marry his sister-in-law. While acknowledging the Mishnah’s
penchant for fantastic cases, we may also read into these scenarios the
rabbis’ acknowledgment that a levirate situation brings with it the po-
tential not only for abuse (since the woman may not have the power to
choose among the brothers or repel unwanted advances), but also for
conflict among the brothers as each advances his agenda.
There may be an advantage to the brothers coordinating their re-
sponse to their childless brother’s death. In a situation involving sev-
eral brothers, it might be argued that some are more suited to perform
levirate marriage than others. In some cases, according to the Mish-
nah, one brother might be disqualified by his relationship to the widow,
while another brother might be permitted to marry her.^31 One brother
m ig ht have ma r r iage pla ns t hat wou ld be t hwa r ted by lev i rate ma r r iage;
in such a case, his marriage plans could be salvaged if another brother
performed levirate or halitza.^32 The Mishnah considers a situation in
which the widows of two brothers are themselves sisters. The death of
their husbands leaves these two sisters bound to the surviving brothers.
T hese brot hers a re faced w it h a d i lem ma; si nce each woma n has a cla i m
on each of them, each potential wife is also “the sister of the woman
bound to him.” The solution, according to Mishnah Yevamot :, is that
both women should perform halitza and cannot enter into levirate mar-
riage. If, however, “one of the sisters is forbidden to one of the brothers
as a prohibited relation, that brother is forbidden to [marry] her but is
permitted to her sister.”^33 In another scenario, each brother is forbidden
to one of the sisters, setting up a situation in which each brother could
marry the sister to whom he is not forbidden. These complex situations,
involving multiple marriages between members of two families, require
some d iscussion bet ween t he su r v iv i ng brot hers; it m ig ht be possible for
one brot her to per form lev irate ma rriage if t he brot hers ascer ta in which
yevama is permitted to which brother. Situations like these can be re-