[ ]From Wife to Widow and Back AgainThe ambiguity of the yevama’s status is indicated by the laws that
govern her economic and personal life during the period between her
husband’s death and the occurrence of levirate marriage or halitza. Her
control over her vows is unclear. Rabbi Eliezer grants the levir power
to annul the vows of the yevama, just as a husband has the power to
annul a wife’s vows, while Rabbi Akiba denies him that power. Rabbi
Joshua offers a compromise position, ceding the power to a single le-
vir while withholding it in a situation where there are several surviving
brothers.^39
Who supports the yevama while she waits for her brother-in-law to
make his decision? Tosefta Yevamot : ties the obligation of the levir to
that of the deceased husband. If the couple was married when the hus-
band died, the levir is obligated to support the yevama; if t he couple was
betrothed, in which case the husband was not yet obligated to support
his wife, the levir is not obligated. This rule is contradicted (or modified)
by another Toseftan halakha:
The first three months [after the husband’s death] the yevama
is supported by the husband {that is, by his estate}; after three
months, she is not supported by the husband or the levir. If the levir
has appeared in court and then flees, she is supported from his
propert y.^40This rule, read in conjunction with the prohibition against levirate mar-
riage or halitza until three months after the death of a woman’s hus-
band, puts the yevama in a compromised financial position. If the levir
delays his decision beyond the three-month waiting period, she has no
means of support. She, however, has no power to force him to marry or
release her. Unless she has her own property, a yevama could easily find
herself with no means of support at a time when she is unable to collect
her marriage settlement. Her ambiguous status is also indicated by her
status regarding teruma, the priestly portion. A childless widow whose
father is a priest may eat teruma in her father’s house.^41 A yevama, how-
ever, cannot eat teruma if her father is a priest, even though her husband
is dead; her bond to the levir maintains her connection to her husband’s
non-priestly family. At the same time, that bond is not strong enough to
allow her to continue eating teruma with her husband’s priestly family
if she was born into a non-priestly family.^42 These rules are purely theo-