Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]unclear. Faced with this uncertainty, the law treats the yevama in an
unusual manner. The laws in Mishnah Yevamot : allow the yevama
considerable power over her property. This power may reflect the pos-
sibility that there are several men eligible to become her husband; if her
husband left several brothers, it is impossible to assign control of her
property to any one of them.^79 The compromises set forth in the second
part of the mishna may reflect t he sit uat ion on t he g rou nd. On one ha nd,
the woman’s family of origin has a strong claim, since she died unmar-
ried. On the other hand, the marriage settlement is in the possession
of the husband’s family, and they may also have physical possession of
the yevama’s m o v a b l e p r o p e r t y. S i n c e t h e o w n e r o f t h e p r o p e r t y i s d e a d , t h e
Mishnah’s authors may have thought division of the property among the
claimants was an elegant solution.
Another topic that allows the rabbis to explore the status of a levi-
rate widow is the annulment of vows. A married woman’s vows may be
annulled by her husband, but the vows of a widow are not subject to
the approval of any man.^80 Mishnah Nedarim : discusses the power
of a levir to annul the vows of his sister-in-law. The Mishnah and sub-
sequent talmudic discussions underscore the difficulty the sages faced
in clarifying the legal status of a levirate widow and her relationship to
her husband’s brothers.
A woman who is awaiting [the decision] of a levir [to perform
levirate marriage or submit to halitza], whether there is one levir or
two — Rabbi Eliezer says: [The levir] may annul [her vows]. Rabbi
Joshua says: [This is the case if there is] one levir, but not if there are
two. Rabbi Akiba says: [This is not the case] whether there is one
or there are two. Rabbi Eliezer said: If a man can annul the vows
of a woman whom he acquires on his own, isn’t it logical that he
can annul the vows of one acquired for him by divine intervention?
Rabbi Akiba said to him: No. The case of a woman whom he
acquires on his own, in whom no other has rights, cannot be used
to learn about the case of a woman who is acquired for him by
divine intervention, in whom others {that is, other brothers of the
deceased} have rights. Rabbi Joshua said to him: Akiba, what you
say applies when there are two levirs, for in such a case there are
others who have rights, but what would you say when there is only