Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]her levir after her husband’s death. The Bavli preserves the power of the
sages to determine when a woman can be released, but a clever woman
can exercise power on her own behalf.^96
The talmudic passages in this section acknowledge that women may
have wished to avoid levirate marriage and may have sought the assis-
tance of the rabbis or tried to prevent the marriage through vows made
before or after the death of their husbands.^97 This concern is expressed
elsewhere in t he Bavli, toget her w it h t he concer n t hat a woma n m ig ht in
fact be desi rous of such a ma r r iage. In bot h ca ses, t he Bavl i considers t he
possibi lit y t hat a woma n’s feelings towa rd her brot her-in-law m ig ht lead
her to act hastily upon receiving a report that her husband has died:
a. They asked R. Sheshet: What is [the standing of] one witness
regarding a yevama? {If one witness testifies that a woman’s
childless husband has died, is this testimony adequate to allow
a levirate marriage?}
b. Is the reason [for accepting the testimony of] one witness [to
permit a woman to remarry] that since the matter will be
revealed a person wouldn’t lie, [in which case] here too he
wouldn’t lie, or is the reason [for accepting] one witness that [the
widow] will investigate before marrying, but here, since in some
cases she loves her brother-in-law, she won’t investigate before
marrying....
c. There is one who says: This is not what you should be asking....
What you should be asking about is the standing of one witness
[when the testimony would] permit a yevama to marry anyone.
{This would involve testimony that the levir has died.}
d. Is the reason [for accepting the testimony of] one witness [to
permit a woman to remarry] that since the matter will be
revealed a person wouldn’t lie, [in which case] here too he
wouldn’t lie, or is the reason [for accepting] one witness that
[the widow] will investigate before marrying, but here she won’t
investigate before marrying because she hates [the levir].^98
The Bavli suggests that the prior relationship between the yevama
and her brother-in-law may influence her response to news that her
husband has died. The levir is a known quantity to his sister-in-law, and
she may have strong feelings toward him. Whether those feelings are