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From Wife to Widow and Back Again

T

he conditions in which Tamar, the widowed daughter-in-law of
Judah, finds herself in Genesis  capture the essence of what it
means to be the widow of a childless man in Israel. Upon the death
of his oldest son, Judah orders his second son to marry Tamar and raise
up seed for his brother. That son, Onan, avoids impregnating Tamar and
dies. Judah now instructs Tamar to live as a widow in her father’s house
until his third son, Shelah, reaches adulthood. Judah apparently has no
intention of allowing Tamar to marry his surviving son, but he does not
release her, ex pect i ng her to rema i n a w idow i ndefi n itely. On ly by ta k i ng
matters into her own hands and risking her life does Tamar attain her
goal, reinserting herself into Judah’s family by bearing his children.
The status of a lev irate w idow (yevama) in rabbinic law is determined
by her husband’s death without children. She is bound to his brother,
expected to bear children that somehow preserve the lineage, or at least
the memory, of her deceased husband. She is an anomaly, no longer
married but not yet independent. Like Tamar, she is powerless to affect
her status. If her husband had left children, the widow would have no
obligations to his family; in fact, her husband’s heirs would have legal
obligations to her. She would be entitled to remain in her husband’s
home and receive maintenance from his estate.^1 She could serve as the
guardian of her husband’s estate and his children.^2 W hen she was ready
to leave her husband’s home, she could collect her marriage settlement.^3
A widow could remarry, and it appears that remarriage was common.^4